People's Democracy

 CPI(M)’s Mass Contact Jatha Tours Punjab

Charan Singh Virdi

BY the time this issues reaches our readers, the mass contact jatha taken out by the Punjab state unit of the CPI(M) will have completed its tour throughout the state. It will be noted that the CPI(M) began its state level mass contact jatha from Amritsar, on August 16, after paying tributes to the martyrs of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre of April 13, 1919, when the Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs shed their blood together for liberating the country from the colonial yoke of British imperialism. Led by the CPI(M) state secretary Balwant Singh, the jatha also included its state secretariat members Charan Singh Virdi, Rachhpal Singh, Raghunath Singh and Vijay Mishra.

The jatha was part of the fortnight long campaign from August 16 to 31, for which the CPI(M)’s Central Committee had given the call. The campaign aimed at rousing public opinion against the pro-imperialist, anti-people, anti-national and disastrous economic policies of the BJP-led NDA government under the IMF-World Bank-WTO pressure. The campaign also intended to highlight the communal machinations and the pro-imperialist foreign policy of the Vajpayee government at the centre.

The Punjab CPI(M)’s jatha highlighted a number of burning demands facing various sections of the people like industrial workers, peasants, agricultural workers, youth, women and minorities, etc. These included --- solution of the Ayodhya dispute through the judicial process; halt to the policy of dismantling the public sector and privatisation of public sector units; stepped-up public investment in and outlay for agriculture and rural development to create rural employment; continuation of subsidies and the minimum support price system; intervention to halt the crash in prices of agricultural commodities; re-negotiation of the WTO terms; enactment of a comprehensive central legislation for agricultural labourers; initiation of large scale food for work programmes; halt to the dismantling of the public distribution system; stop to communalisation and commercialisation of education system; and one third reservation in seats for women in parliament and state legislatures.

Apart from the above demands, the jatha also propagated the 13-point demands charter specific to Punjab. These included --- transfer of Chandigarh to Punjab; fair and just distribution of river waters; reorganisation of centre-state relations so as to give more powers to the states; concrete steps for balanced and fast industrialisation of the state with emphasis on agro industries; effective and meaningful campaign against corruption and involvement of mass organisations and common people in it; ensured use of Punjabi language in all government offices; steps to check the spread of decadent culture and drug abuse etc; stringent measures to stop police atrocities and social oppression against weaker sections and women; halt to the spree of imposing new burdens on the people and to hikes in charges for various services; move to save the primary schools and primary health centres; devolution of real and genuine powers to panchayats; ensured employment or unemployment relief; reopening of the closed and sick units; and safeguarding of the economic interests and rights of the workers of closed and sick industrial units.

At the same time, district units of the CPI(M) in Punjab also took out their own jathas in the areas of their respective jurisdiction. (INN)