People's Democracy

 

MADHYA PRADESH NEWSLETTER

 

State Turning into a Hindutva Terror Nursery: Karat

 

DURING his recent visit to Madhya Pradesh, CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat expressed the opinion that the state was being converted into a nursery of Hindutva terrorism.

 

Addressing the CPI(M) state committee meeting at the party’s state headquarters in Bhopal, Karat referred to some recent incidents and said the Jaipur blast, Mecca mosque blast or explosion in the Samjhauta Express, all seemed to have been linked to Madhya Pradesh in one way or another. Either the conspiracies of these blasts were hatched in Madhya Pradesh or those caught in connection with them belonged to the state, he said.

 

Describing such ‘mindless’ violence as a threat to secular fabric of the country, Karat said the emerging trend in Madhya Pradesh was a matter of grave concern and stern action should be initiated to arrest this trend.

 

Referring to US president Barrack Obama’s India visit, Karat said the US wished to shift the burden of its financial crisis on to the third world nations, including India. During his visit, the only achievement has been fulfilment of interests of the US and its multinationals, he said. He regretted that India, which once led the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), was being forced by its ruling class into the role of a junior partner of the US.

 

Karat also referred to the proved nexus between the Maoists and the Trinamul Congress in West Bengal and said the people of that state are now coming out in open against the gory violence perpetrated by the combine. He said those conspiring to dethrone the Left Front in West Bengal are the ones who have kept the poor people in the country on the margins and wished to take away whatever rights the poor and the downtrodden have been able to claim during Left rule in that state. He, however, said that their designs won’t succeed as only the Left knows the way out of current mess the country is witness to.

 

CPI(M) state secretary Badal Saroj presented a report on the political situation in MP. The party’s Polit Bureau member Dr M K Pandhe was also present on the first day of two day meeting. The state committee adopted a programme of agitation on the burning issues of the people. It also reviewed the organisational tasks and finalised the future course of action.

 

JPC Probe into 2G Scam a Must: Describing corruption as a grave threat to democracy, CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat said a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) inquiry into the 2G scam is a must so that it is revealed how one person (A Raja) was able to manipulate the whole system in a manner that the nation was duped of Rs 1.76 lakh crore in the auction of the 2G spectrum.

 

He, however, said it was not corruption of an individual but of a powerful nexus which was trying to subvert the democratic process and take the affairs of the nation in its hands. This nexus needed to be exposed and destroyed before the matter went out of hands.

 

Karat said so while addressing a public meeting organised at Bhopal on December 5 to mark the beginning of the party’s weeklong nationwide campaign against corruption.

 

Referring to the capitalist-politician-bureaucrat nexus in this context, he said it has come to rule the roost in the power echelons in the era of globalisation and liberalisation, and this nexus has the potential to subvert democracy, using loads of money at their disposal.

 

An instalment of the amount of Rs 1.76 lakh crore that was bungled in the 2G spectrum auction had already been used in the 2009 election, he said, reminding that Rs 500 note in an envelope was sought to be given to every poor voter in Tamilnadu by the DMK. Many such envelopes were seized and handed over to the Election Commission of India by the CPI(M) at that time, he reminded.

 

The CPI(M) leader said the total outlay for Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act for the year was Rs 24,000 crore and the total expenditure on food security for all the people would require Rs one lakh crore, which the government does not wish to spend. It is therefore seeking to restrict the proposed Food Security Act to only BPL families. But if it had not allowed the 2G spectrum to take place, it could have at its disposal enough funds for both purposes --- MGNAREGA and food security for all.

 

Stating that the greatest threat of corruption was that it deprived people of their rightful and genuine aspirations, Karat regretted that the massive corruption was not being reflected in the highest echelons of power only but down to the panchayat level. He urged the people to fight corruption in the interest of democracy and the poor people of this country.

 

Is There no Tradition to Resign in MP?: Stating that the BJP government in Karnataka was blatantly corrupt, Karat said that three ministers had resigned there after the Lok Ayukta took up the matter against them in the land scams. However, in Madhya Pradesh, there seems to be no tradition of resignation by the chief minister or ministers if Lok Ayukta registers a case against them. Talking to reporters at Gandhi Bhavan, the venue of a public meeting, he said, “I think there is no tradition to tender resignation on moral grounds in MP if an inquiry is taken up against the chief minister or his ministerial colleagues. But I only hope the scams being inquired into by the Lok Ayukta or other agencies were completed early and, accordingly, action was taken against persons concerned,” he said.

 

CBI Politicised: Justifying the opposition stalling the functioning of parliament for over two weeks over the demand of a JPC probe into the 2G scam, Karat said the amount involved in the Bofors case was only Rs 68 crore --- a very small amount compared to the amount of Rs 1.76 lakh crore involved in the 2G scam. Yet the parliament had then remained stalled for 45 days till the government agreed to form a JPC. Why this Congress-led government was so wary of a JPC probe? he asked. He further said the CBI has become completely politicised and it was being used to fix the opponents of the government or keep them under threat, if there were any crisis for the government. The pace of investigation by the CBI also varies accordingly, he said.  Karat said the CBI was investigating the 2G scam for 13 months and it has not made up its mind whether it should interrogate the former telecom minister A Raja or not. Now that the Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) report was also out, the CBI was forced into saying that it would interrogate Raja, he said. He said a JPC probe would not only look into all aspects of the scam and suggest safeguards to prevent such scams in future, but also keep a check on the CBI and ensure that its investigation was on the right track.

 

Most Corrupt Government till Date: In his address on the occasion earlier, CPI(M) state secretary Badal Saroj accused the state government of being neck deep in corruption and said that the chief minister and several of his cabinet colleagues were facing a Lok Ayukta probe and yet they did not resign from their post.

 

On this occasion, Badal Saroj also presented to the house the details of all the scams and corrupt actions of the BJP controlled state government. He said this is the first government in the history whose chief minister himself is tainted. When the CM speaks about the corrupt practices of his ministers, the ministers retort and publicly ask him who will be left in the cabinet if they all resign. When a minister is cornered with facts regarding some scam, he threatens the CM with a CD related to the corruption of the chief minister’s relatives. Badal Saroj further said while the state government claims to make Madhya Pradesh a swarnim (golden) state, the fact is that it is controlled by 16 ministers against whom enquiries have been initiated by the Lok Ayukta. Income tax investigations are going on against 11 ministers, and prosecution has been instituted against 62 officers and against 11 district collectors. There are complaints of corruption in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and inquiries are in progress.

 

At the meeting, Sandhya Shaily presented a Sankalp Prastav (resolution of pledge) to fight against corruption in order to save the country and its people. The meeting was presided over by a presidium consisting of Jasvinder Singh, Ramvilas Goswamy and Sandhya Shaily.