People's Democracy

HELD at Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, on March 3, the big rally of peasants and agricultural labourers reflected their resolve to fight the climate of uncertainty of life, unbearable poverty, unemployment and landlord oppression under the BJP rule. Carrying red banners, thousands of peasants and agricultural workers came for the rally from as far afield as Saharanpur, Gorakhpur and Banda. Many of them came from the newly carved out state of Uttaranchal also. (The people of this new state, however, prefer the name Uttarakhand to that given by the BJP government.)

It was the first time in twelve years that the two major Left forces in UP came together to protest against the policies of the BJP-led governments at the centre and in the state.

Presided over by CPI(M) state secretariat member Ambika Prasad Mishra, the rally was addressed by CPI(M) general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet, CPI general secretary A B Bardhan, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Prakash Karat, CPI(M) state secretary Ram Kumar Yadav, CPI(M) Central Committee member Suneet Chopra, CPI(M) state secretariat member Daulat Ram, CPI National Executive member Atul Kumar Anjan and other leaders of the CPI.

The various speakers stressed how the BJP-led governments at the centre and in the state were ruining Indian agriculture by bending over backwards to please the USA and WTO. They cited the decline in foodgrain production, employment opportunities and prices as a result of these policies. They castigated the government’s abandonment of the public distribution system, the opening up of our agrarian market to dumping by US multinationals and other foreign producers, the reversal of land reforms and the increasing cost of inputs like fertilisers, electricity and irrigation as a result of the globalisation, liberalisation and privatisation drive launched by the BJP and its allies.

In fact, the increased duty on palm oil and decrease in duty on soya bean oil was pointed out as an attempt to curb the import of palm oil from Malaysia and favour the soya bean imports from the US. The speakers also lambasted the union budget for the manner in which the finance minister had overstepped economic limits and advised increasing the minimum number of employees necessary for labour laws to operate from 100 at present to 1000, giving a clean chit to employers to hire and fire at will. The drying up of rural credit by taxing the NABARD and cooperative banks, reducing the rates of interest on provident fund and the shady BALCO deal also came in for sharp criticism. The rally warned that the attacks on trade union rights of labour would not be tolerated by peasants and agricultural workers.

The speakers called for massive resistance to these policies and a call was given to make the action by the Joint Action Committee of Peasants and Agricultural Workers Organisations for March 29-30 a resounding success. The speakers warned that actions by the peasants and agricultural workers would continue until these anti-people policies were reversed. The need for building a powerful third alternative to achieve this end was stressed.

Closing the rally, CPI(M) general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet warned the peasants and agricultural labourers against the divisive forces trying to divert the rural masses along casteist and communal lines so that they are not able to go ahead on the path of class struggle. The latter is quite necessary today if the ruin of our peasantry and the rural poor were to be avoided.

The rally closed with chairman Ambika Prasad Mishra congratulating the participants and calling on them to proceed along the path of relentless struggle till concrete gains were made, the anti-people policies of the BJP-led state and central governments were pushed back and these governments were forced to change their direction.