People's Democracy

Buddhadeb’s Election Speech On AIR

DEAR citizens,

The 14th Loksabha election has started; I, on behalf of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), want to place before you our views on some vital national issues.

The main concern before us in this election is whether India will be able to remain a secular country or not.  We all know and believe that India is a multi-national, multi-lingual and multi-religious country. Unity in diversity is the unique feature of our country. There are Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists and various other religious communities who live in our country. Our Constitution has given all citizens equal right to believe, practice and propagate any religion. But the State has no religion. The State will not uphold any particular religion. The responsibility of the State is to protect all religious communities. But unfortunately some organisations like the RSS, VHP are out to destroy the secular ideas of our Constitution. Their ultimate aim is to create Hindu rashtra, where all other minority communities will have to surrender or to leave the country. The saffron brigade believes in the ideology of so called Hindutva. The man who killed Gandhiji had faith in the same ideology. These forces have demolished Babri Masjid and have organised a genocide in Gujarat and have been able to divide the civil society of that state on communal basis.  They have mixed up religion with politics and the real agenda of BJP and its fascist outfits is to divide the people on communal lines and attack the very concept of unity in diversity.

It is a fact that the long Congress misrule has ruined our economy. Indira Gandhi gave the slogan of “Garibi Hatao”.  But she failed miserably. I want to remind you that we achieved independence in 1947 and the Peoples Republic of China emerged two years later, in 1949. At that time China was more backward than India in almost every sector.  Their population was bigger than India.  But China, with their successful policies has now emerged as a very powerful country with a strong economy.  They are now bargaining with the capitalist countries like the USA, UK and Japan from a position of strength.  But we are not only lagging behind China, but also following the dictates of IMF, World Bank.  What I want to say is that, no country can be strong and rich without following the policy of self-reliance.  It is a fact that during the Narshima Rao’s Congress government and under the guidance of the then finance minister Dr Manmohan Singh the new economic policy was initiated. Now Jaswant Singh is following the same policy in a more ruthless manner. At no time in independent India so much has been done for the rich and so little for the poor. The gap between the rich and the poor has widened enormously. Their policies have benefited big business, big traders, speculators and foreign companies. On the other hand the condition of millions of poor in rural and urban areas has deteriorated miserably. Their purchasing capacity has decreased considerably. The rural India is in distress because of acute agrarian crisis. The prices of commercial crops have crashed. The per capita availability of foodgrains has come down to the level of Bengal famine in 1943. 

Workers in the organised sector are also suffering. The Vajpayee government has assiduously worked to dismantle the public sector. The most profitable PSU’s like VSNL, Balco etc are being sold at throw-away prices to Indian and foreign monopolies. Ruthless disinvestment is ruining our national economy.  Unemployment has become the biggest problem of the people.  Today, there are 15 crore unemployed persons in the country.

The Vajpayee government was supposed to rule for full five years.  But just after their win in three state assembly elections they changed their mind and went for an early Lok Sabha election.  Now they have adopted electioneering gimmicks by raising “Feel Good” slogan. What a cruel joke! This government promised to eliminate bhook (hunger), but hoarded six crore tonnes of food grains, rather than distribute it among the drought affected people.  The same government exported one crore tonnes of foodgains at below poverty line prices, rather than distribute it to the country’s poor. The pathetic death of 21 women in Lucknow, just to get a sari, is a real picture of our country. 

The Left Front governments in West Bengal and Tripura are the successful example of coalition politics. The present Left Front emerged through long struggles against Congress misrule. We have shed our tears, sweat and blood for this. The Left Front in West Bengal is in power for 27 years, and it is not a mean achievement.

The latest state-wise data reveals the out of the total land distributed in the entire country, 20.4 per cent has been distributed in West Bengal alone. The share of West Bengal in the total land in our country is just about 3 per cent. The 70 percent of the beneficiaries of this distribution are poor peasants. 1 million acres of land was distributed among the poor peasants; most of them are tribals and dalits. 1.5 million sharecroppers were given legal permission to cultivate their land. In the production of rice, vegetables, potato, fish West Bengal has secured first position in the country. We have been able to attract investment of Rs 2000 crores on average in the last three years. We have given special attention to improve health, education, housing sector and extra effort has been initiated to reach drinking water to every section of the society.

We the CPI(M) and the Left parties have set an alternative set of policies at the national level.   

All those who cherish the country’s unity, who wish to strengthen the democratic and secular character of India and who are interested in the economic well being and social upliftment of the people, must come together to reject the BJP and its allies. The CPI(M) will co-operate with all other Left, democratic and secular forces to achieve this goal.

Vote to defeat the BJP and its allies

Vote for the formation of a secular government at the centre

Vote to strengthen the CPI(M) and Left in Parliament. 

Thank you.