People's Democracy

DELHI

ON the call of the Delhi units of the CPI(M), CPI, RJD, JD(S) and SJP people in thousands held a demonstration at Parliament Street on March 15, today, demanding the resignation of the Vajpayee government for its shameless corruption in defence purchases.

The demonstration was addressed by Hakrishan Singh Surjeet, Sitaram Yechury from the CPI(M), A B Bardhan, Amarjeet Kaur (CPI), Raj Singh Mann, Jai Bhagwan Jatav (RJD), Shoaib Iqbal, MLA JD(S), Raj Kumar, Ravinder Manchanda (SJP) and Prof. Ram Gopal Yadav from the Samajwadi Party.

The speakers asserted that the Vajpayee government had lost the moral right to continue in office in the wake of revelations of graft and sleaze in Tehelka.com. The inquiry being offered by the government is irrelevant in the context of direct evidence against the likes of Bangaru Laxman and Jaya Jaitley, the speakers said. Harkishan Singh Surjeet pointed to the grave dangers posed to national security by the continuance of this government. A B Bardhan came down heavily on the pseudo-nationalism of the RSS-BJP, so thoroughly exposed by Bangaru Laxman’s demand for graft in dollars.

In what is seen as a run-up to the consolidation of Third Front forces, non-Congress opposition leaders slammed the BJP-led NDA for "rampant corruption" in high places and called for a sustained struggle to oust the Vajpayee government.

"The damning expose by tehelka.com of corruption in defence deals has not only exposed the BJP and its true character, but also made it imperative for launching a concerted struggle to remove the corrupt regime presided over by Mr Vajpayee," CPM general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet said

Reiterating the demand for the government’s resignation, Sitaram Yechury wondered how the defence minister was continuing in office while the defence personnel named in the tehelka revelations have already been suspended. How can any meaningful inquiry take place under this government, which has institutionalised corruption even in the PMO, involving individuals like Brajesh Mishra and Ranjan Bhattacharya he asked? Rajaya MP from Samajwadi party, Ramgopal Yadav, called upon the Left and secular parties to start a countrywide struggle to topple the government and pledged the support of his party in the struggle. Shoaib Iqbal, JD(S), MLA from Matia Mahal, elaborated upon the different agitational actions to be carried out in the coming days in Delhi. Raj Kr. Jain from SJP alleged similar corruption indulged in by the government in the sale of public sector enterprises like BALCO.

Meanwhile in a statement The All India Democratic Women’s Associations (AIDWA)’s General Secretary Brinda karat has said that women share the outrage of citizens all over the India at the unprecedented corruption existing at the highest levels of government as revealed in the tehelka tapes. Clearly the national security has been gravely undermined under the rule of this government. AIDWA supports the demand for immediate resignation of the government. There can be no independent probe under a regime, which in itself is so deeply involved. The tremendous sacrifices by soldiers and officers including the supreme sacrifices of laying down their lives for national security by the armed forces will be made a mockery of, if this government continues in office. What answer is there for the widows, the children, the mothers of those killed who chose to serve in the forces, if the political leaders who trade their blood for commissions and who have also corrupted officers of the forces, are allowed to continue in Office?

AIDWA calls upon its units to organise protests all over the country and demand the resignation of this government.

KOLKATA

A LARGE rally was held at the Shahid Minar maidan in Kolkata on March 16 to demand the immediate removal of the BJP-led NDA government from office. The rally, which was organized under the aegis of the Calcutta district unit of the CPI (M), was followed by a procession from the venue of the meeting to the Park Circus Maidan via Park Street.

CPI (M) leader, Biman Basu was the sole speaker at the rally which was presided over by convener of the Calcutta unit of the Left Front, Prasanta Kumar Sur. Biman Basu enumerated the corrupt, anti-people "deals" of the BJP-led government and said what the recent revelations had brought out was a mere confirmation of the kind of nefarious activities the votaries of "swadeshi" and "Hindutva" had been busying themselves with.

Biman Basu pointed out that while the Böfors deal had been a scam at the highest echelons of political office-holders, the succession of charges framed against no less a person than a home minister and several of his governmental and political party colleagues, in the instance of the demolition of a place of worship of a minority community was something that was quite unprecedented in its scope and import. The subsequent utterance of the prime minister on the destruction of the Babari mosque as a "reflection of national sentiment" was not merely a lie but a transgression on the secular character of the nation. He also drew the attention of the assemblage to the crucial defence deals where exchange of crore upon crore of rupees had taken place on the choice of armaments and vehicles-of-war like tanks and aircraft. This had a direct bearing on the issue of national security.

The revelations made by army and naval commanders of impeccable credentials, revelations that were brutally struck off the official records by no less a person than somebody holding an important portfolio in the NDA government, as it was later found out, very soon came home to roost despite all efforts at silencing the sources concerned.

The inevitable product of a capitalist regime that was always found ready to bow low before TNC’s has always been a multiplicity of wheeling-and-dealings at the highest places even as the mad rush for gathering the odd shares of the plunder of public funds gathered momentum. Greed led to a loosening of the secrecy and the latest findings "on camera" were the shameful outcome. A government that has compromised the nation’s security, and has been doing its best to feed off of the people’s misery while pandering to the rich must now be compelled to quit by increasing waves of nationwide mass movements.

"Today’s program," said Biman Basu, "was merely the first in the line of many such programs that would be launched with increasing intensity till the corrupt men and women who comprised the anti-people union government were forced to give up and beat a shameful retreat into political wilderness."

TRIPURA

PROTEST demonstrations all over Tripura have voiced the profound pledge of the people to fight until the final exit of the BJP government from the centre. The demonstrations demanding immediate resignation of the government at the centre were held at towns and villages, roads and lanes of the states, at the call of the Left Front. All the nooks and corners of the state reverberated with the demand and people’s grievance against the NDA government was at several places vented by burning effigies of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

MANIPUR

A BIG dharna was organised at the heart of Imphal on March 20. The dharna was organised by CPI(M), CPI and JD(S) demanding the immediate resignation of Atal Behari Vajpayee, prime minister of India on moral ground on the issue of Tehelka.com exposures. Those leaders who attended the dharna included M Shamu, state secretary CPI (M), Sarat Salam, state secretariat member CPI(M), Parijat state secretary CPI and W. Kullabidhu, leader JD(S). All the protestors were then arrested by the police for violating 144, which has been imposed in and around Imphal city in view of the ongoing assembly session.