PUNJAB

CPI(M) Finalises Steps To Observe CC Call

MEETING at Chandigarh on July 30 and 31, the Punjab state committee of the CPI(M) expressed deep concern on the deteriorating law and order situation in the state, particularly on the increase in atrocities against Dalits and women and in the incidents of looting and dacoities. The proceedings of the state committee meeting were conveyed to the press by its secretary, Balwant Singh.

The state committee also gave a concrete shape to the mass campaign call of the Central Committee from August 16 to 31, deciding how the call would be observed in the state. The committee also added the state level burning demands facing the industrial workers, agricultural workers, peasants, women, youth, students and minorities, to the list of issues to be popularised.

The committee decided that a statewide jatha, led by the state secretary Balwant Singh and other state secretariat members, would commence its tour through the state on August 16 after paying homage to the martyrs of Jallianwala Bagh. The jatha would address several rallies and mass meetings on its itinerary. Districtwise jathas, consisting of district leaders of the CPI(M), will also tour in respective districts for 15 days.

The CPI(M) state committee observed with anxiety that in the recently held gram panchayat elections both the big parties of the ruling classes, that is the Congress and Akali Dal (Badal), used undemocratic and corrupt methods. They allured the voters with large scale use of alcoholic drinks, opium and opium husk, and even bought votes with money, thereby falsifying the free and fair verdict of the people. It bodes ill for the parliamentary democracy, the CPI(M) noted.

The state committee strongly condemned the Captain Amrinder Singh government for its spree of imposing new economic burdens upon all sections of the people in the name of restoring the fiscal health of the state. The most cruel and callous case in point was the steep, 30 times hike in fees, which has badly hurt the student community. The CPI(M) noted that this hike was aimed at depriving the sons and daughters of a majority of the people, including middle class people, from college education. The state committee congratulated the student community and democratic masses in the state, who, by building up broadest resistance, forced the Amrinder government to withdraw the fee hike.

The state committee considered the withdrawal of non-practicing allowance to the government doctors as totally anti-people and anti-poor because this would people of whatever little medical facilities are available to them. The CPI(M) demanded immediate restoration of this allowance.

Opining on the recent Badal-Tohra unity, the CPI(M) state committee characterised it as a negative development as it would make the communal appeal of the Akalis more strident, thereby harming the unity of the Punjabi people and also the unity and integrity of the country. The state committee further observed that Badal’s main motive behind this unity was to acquire a protective cover for the corruption scandals that he perpetrated when he was in power. It will be noted that the exposure drive being run by the present chief minister Amrinder Singh is exposing the huge amounts of wealth Badal had amassed by corrupt means, misusing and abusing his position as chief minister.

The state committee has decided to lend all possible support to the DYFI state committee that is hosting the seventh all-India conference of the DYFI at Amritsar in November coming.

The state committee also decided to hold a state level workshop of newly elected sarpanchas and panchas belonging to the CPI(M) in near future. The panchayat and rural development minister of Left Front government of West Bengal will share his state’s experiences with the participants of this workshop.

At the outset, the state committee mourned the death of Comrade Sohan Singh Bassi, a member of the CPI(M)’s Punjab state committee of long standing.