When the movement has an independent political direction and the people are united, the worst instincts of the judiciary are to some extent subdued and the courts act in people’s interest. However, when the movement is weak and confused as it is now, it is clear to even the layman that the court will mainly act to crush whatever remains of the movements or stall until such a point where it basically achieves what it wants and the legal fight becomes meaningless. It will mire us in legal battles to exhaust us and defeat us. In this context, it is only by building the power of the people that we can survive and win. Post by Avinash https://www.facebook.com/112288804871403/posts/pfbid0YYUdYcCpBdQtGrYSdTx4orL23FbqtAt6bqk5f5scbGNLMbjuaLJxjGQYgTW7o3abl/
Some important issues of the current movement against the destruction of Aarey Forest
Part 1: An Enemy’s Enemy is Not Your Friend!
The struggle to save Aarey Forest has been going on for some time now and the movement has received support from individuals and organizations from across the country and the world. But in order to take the movement forward, it is important for us to have a discussion on the challenges being faced by it.
At its current stage, the problems arise from the “NGOite Environmentalism” of several individuals, many of whom happily continue to boast on their social media profiles of having received awards from Uddhav Thackeray and Devendra Fadnavis. For these people, ‘environmentalism’ is a business – they raise funds for their ‘activism’ from various corporates, resort to crowdfunding if the issue is a popular one and also ‘partner’ with the government whenever possible. These people maintain that the enemy (Uddhav / Aditya Thackeray, Aam Aadmi Party, Congress, NCP, MNS etc.) of an enemy (Devendra Fadnavis) is a friend. One particularly dense idiot even raised the idea of taking help from the feudal reactionary Karni Sena! Their logic is that any enemy of your enemy is your friend! This is wrong!! An enemy’s enemy absolutely DOES NOT need to be your friend!!
Let us first try to understand the origins of this struggle. The movement has arisen in response to the State deciding to handover public hand in order to benefit a handful of capitalists and real estate barons. The ‘metro car shed’ in Aarey is a façade which allows the state to pretend as if the project is in public interest when the real purpose is in fact to allow the builders and developers to come in through the backdoor. The lives of over 1100 species of plants and animals are being endangered to allow them to develop luxury apartments providing great aerial views of Sanjay Gandhi National Park, allowing the rich the pleasure of living ‘close to nature’. Each such flat will sell for Crores of rupees making every tree felled and animal killed for the purpose worth the effort. It is because such powerful interests are at stake that this plan is in such a determined and organized manner, despite all government reports and public protests advising against the measure.
Now let us come to the discussion regarding the challenges being faced by the movement. Let us first ensure we understand the fundamentals. In their greed for power, each bourgeois party - whether it is the BJP, Shiv Sena, MNS, Congress, NCP, or VBA – tries to demean the other and show itself the superior alternative and positions itself as pro-people on various issues. But can these parties ever truly be concerned for the environment? Absolutely not! Their “concern” extends only so far as the issue does not affect their material interests. No matter which party comes to power, the funds which bring them to power invariably comes from the wealthy – the capitalists, builder-developers, corporates and real estate moguls. Can a party backed by such a class ever truly care for the environment? Absolutely not. As soon as they come to power, they will first try to please their bosses – those capitalists who have so generously helped them arrive here – and in fact, that is their only purpose. They get to enjoy the privileges of power only so long as they are faithfully bootlick their bosses (and this is precisely what happened when the Fadnavis government came to power).
Once the political class takes a decision to please its masters / formulates a ‘law’, the task of enforcing this decision / law falls on the executive. This is where the police come in. The task of the police is to ensure that the ‘law’ is followed, i.e., the decisions taken by the government are implemented. Their job is to ensure that the commandments of the ruling class are followed and that all voices of dissent are suppressed. In such a situation, all foolish tactics such as as garlanding, pleading, giving roses to or prostrating before the police (all either carried out or suggested at one point during this movement) make zero sense and serve no purpose.
In addition to such stupidity, some “NGO environmentalists” place excessive faith in legalism and seriously believe that the courts will come to their rescue. When the movement has an independent political direction and the people are united, the worst instincts of the judiciary are to some extent subdued and the courts act in people’s interest. However, when the movement is weak and confused as it is now, it is clear to even the layman that the court will mainly act to crush whatever remains of the movements or stall until such a point where it basically achieves what it wants and the legal fight becomes meaningless. It will mire us in legal battles to exhaust us and defeat us. In this context, it is only by building the power of the people that we can survive and win.
As of today however, the movement is going in the opposite direction. The NGO Environmentalists, following the doctrine of “An enemy’s enemy is a friend” is looking to appease as many opposition political parties as it can. But the truth is that every political party which has come to power in Maharashtra has contributed to the destruction of the Aarey forest! Even though some parties may make claims to support the movement to Save Aarey right now, it is important to remember the history of these political parties’ actions when in power in the past and to remember to not trust them when it comes to issues concerning the common man. Let’s look at the history of these parties now.
Shiv Sena
The Shiv Sena government from 1994-1999 with the BJP built the Royal Palms luxury housing complex and the golf course. Royal Palms is located 2 km inside Aarey from the Metro depot plot. It borders the SGNP forest. Shiv Sena CM Manohar Joshi & President Bal Thackeray inaugurated the golf course in Royal Palms. (https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/bal-thackeray-through-the-years/ articleshow/17259532.cms?from=mdr)
Congress & NCP
In 1977, the Film City - now one of the ‘iconic landmarks’ of Mumbai - was carved out of the Aarey forest. Around 200 acres were cleared for establishing the Film City under a Congress government. (ref: https://www.indiatoday.in/news-analysis/story/aarey-forest-story-of-a-milk-colony-that-has-film-ci ty-may-have-metro-car-shed-1606860-2019-10-07). In the current plan for the construction of metro rail car shed, only 30 hectares of about 1,300 hectares that make up the Aarey forest would be cleaned up. The Film City required nearly seven times more land. Whereas all mainstream Maharashtrian parties barring the BJP have been vocal in their opposition to the car shed, Congress and NCP actually didn’t stop the proposal when it mattered. At a meeting in August 2019, the NCP corporator Kaptan Malik actually voted in favour of cutting the trees. Two Congress corporators also abstained during the crucial vote. BJP’s four corporators supported the proposal. https://www.freepressjournal.in/india/how-ncp-congress-helped-swing-axe-at-aarey)
In 2010, a plan for expansion of the existing Byculla Zoo was proposed. This expansion had to cover parts of the Aarey forest. In June this year, the government cleared about 40 hectares of the Aarey forest to build the extended zoo without enclosures. This was done to offer a night safari to tourists. (ref: https://www.indiatoday.in/news-analysis/story/aarey-forest-story-of-a-milk-colony-that-has-film-ci ty-may-have-metro-car-shed-1606860-2019-10-07).
Shiv Sena’s Betrayal of the people of Mahul
To those enamoured of the so-called “environmentalism” of the Shiv Sena prince Aditya Thackeray, we wish to remind them of Mahul, also called the gas chamber of Mumbai. Most of the people who live in Mahul’s SRA colony today originally lived in settlements around the Tansa Pipeline in Mumbai. Their settlements as a result of the PIL filed in the High Court by a builder-run NGO "Janhit Manch" close to Shiv Sena. The PIL said that the settlements around the Tansa pipeline posed a “security risk” since any terrorists could easily poison the entire city by injecting poison into the pipeline. The High Court accepted this absurd nonsensical argument and ordered the Shiv Sena government to clear all settlements and erect a fence around the pipeline. And the Shiv Sena complied. After all, how can the government disobey an order of the court? The settlements of thousands of people were demolished overnight, the people who protested the demolition of the settlements were arrested and put in jail. In the name of rehabilitation, they were put in Mahul’s SRA Colony, which is surrounded by 13 polluting hazardous factories. Today, almost every family there suffer from skin diseases and / or respiratory diseases. Some have even developed serious illnesses like cancer after moving to Mahul. The great environmentalist Aditya Thackeray showed his true colours when he abandoned the people of Mahul to fate and decided that he would spend 500 crores to build a cycle track along the Tansa pipeline, where the homes of people previously stood.
The current “dispute” over the land in Kanjurmarg is similarly revealing. Kirit Somaiya of the BJP was the one of the loudest opposing voices to the commercial development of the land in Kanjurmarg when the Shiv Sena government was trying to give the wet lands of Kanjurmarg to the builders. But since coming to power, Mr. Somaiyya’s environmentalism has disappeared. Only an idealist dreamer can wish for such people to be honest in their arguments. They are all cut from the same cloth. Those who think that we can get some benefit from these parties funded by capitalists and real estate barons are very stupid. On the contrary, being in the opposition, all these builders' parties will take advantage of the people's movement. That is why nothing good will come out of pitting one enemy i.e. Uddhav Thackeray, Aditya Thackeray, Supriya Sule and their so called parties Shiv Sena, Congress, NCP, VBA MNS, etc. against another enemy i.e. Shinde-Fadnavis government. They are neither allies of the people nor of the environment. That is, the enemy of your enemy is not your friend.
Then who is with us in the struggle to Save Aarey? It is the working people who will really be affected by these decisions. What should our program be? To tell the truth about the destruction of Aarey forest to the common working people, organize them and involve them in the struggle. The environmental movements in the past have been successful in changing anti-environment decisions of the government only on the strength of the unwavering power of the people. In this movement too, victory is possible only on the strength of the organized power of the people.
P.S.
Some other examples of the environmentalism of Congress and the BJP for those interested:
Congress
1. When Koyna dam was built by the TATA Group in Maharashtra between 1956-1964, people had to leave their villages and move upwards near hills. This has been a major reason behind consistent landslides in nearby areas, for example, landslide in Pune district in 2014, landslides in villages around Koyna in 2021
2. During Sharad Pawar’s reign, hills were blasted for creation of Konkan Railway in the 90s. Mumbai-Pune Expressway was built in a similar manner. This has contributed to the consistent problem of landslides in the area. The loss of vegetation cover in these areas due to deforestation leads to erosion, leading more soil and boulders to loosen up and slide down. (Link - https://www.indiejournal.in/article/we-were-warned-of-flooding-landslide-events-for-years-so-why-are-we-surprised)
3. An Indian Ministry of Environment and Forests team investigating Lavasa, the smart city near Pune, concluded that the city has caused environmental damage since it’s built in the scenic hills of the Western Ghats, a UNESCO World Heritage Site known for its evergreen tropical forests that shelter 325 species of vulnerable or endangered animals, birds and fauna. After reviewing the project, this ministry provided clearance in 2011 to Lavasa with specific conditions, such as a cessation of hill cutting activities, building of a sewage treatment plant etc.
4. More than 700 existing, proposed and under construction dams and hydro-electricity projects in Uttarakhand put its highly sensitive Himalayan eco zone into danger and a committee appointed by the Supreme Court concluded that the Uttarakhand flood disaster was worsened by the existing hydropower projects, hence, no environmental clearance was provided for further hydropower projects in Uttarakhand. (Link - http://mainstreamweekly.net/article5910.html)
BJP
5. Bunder diamond block in Chhatarpur district of Madhya Pradesh is to be spread across an area of 364 hectares in the Buxwaha forest, about 225 km northeast of Bhopal. The block is estimated to have 34 million carats of rough diamonds. A PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking a stay on this project, secured by Essel Mining and Industries Limited in 2019. The Forest Clearance Report shows that it’d cause the felling of 2,00,000 trees in the forest region and use a lot of water. In 2006 also, the Madhya Pradesh Government had granted a prospecting license to Rio Tinto Exploration India Private Limited, an Australian mining giant, to explore diamond mining in the Buxwaha region. (Link - https://janataweekly.org/in-madhya-pradeshs-buxwaha-forest-a-diamond-mine-could-claim-two-lakh-trees/)
6. In 2017, the Central Pollution Control Board wrote to over 400 thermal power units in the country, allowing them to release pollutants in violation of the 2015 limits set by the Government which were to be followed till another 5 years.
7. Environment clearances were eased to allow mid-sized polluting industries to operate within 5-km of eco-sensitive areas, as against the earlier limit of 10 km. Norms for coal tar processing, sand mining, paper pulp industries were also eased. (Link - https://theprint.in/opinion/environment-is-the-most-under-reported-failure-of-narendra-modi-government/223670/)