JHARKHAND

Left Parties Stage Dharna At Ranchi

IN pursuance of their 11 point demands, four Left parties in Jharkhand staged an impressive joint dharna in front of Jharkhand legislative assembly at Birsa Chowk, in state capital Ranchi on June 10. These parties are the CPI(M), CPI, CPI(ML) and Marxist Coordination Committee.

CPI state secretary Bhubanewar Prasad Mehta, CPI(M) state secretary J S Majumdar, CPI(ML) central committee member Raja Ram and state secretary Subendu Sen, MCC’s state committee member Jogendra Gope, CPI(M) state secretariat members S K Bhakshi and G K Bakshi and state committee member Jyotin Soren, and Suphal Mahto were prominent among the Left leaders who spoke on this occasion.

These Left parties submitted a memorandum, addressed to the speaker of the assembly, for the members of the house. The memorandum presented the Left agenda on behalf of the people of Jharkhand.

The memorandum drew attention to the unconstitutional, illegal, anti-people and authoritarian acts of the Arjun Munda government and its failures. The Left memorandum pointed out that ignoring the B D Ram report and the order of the Jharkhand assembly speaker, the Arjun Munda government appointed Deepak Verma as the SP of Garwah, even though he is a named accused in the case of murder of CPI(ML)’s sitting MLA Mahendra Singh. The Left parties further alleged that the state government is trying to mislead the CBI by issuing false statements. The Left parties accused the high-handed action of Jharkhand police, at the instance of ruling parties and ministers, of attacking the Left leaders, functionaries and the people in order to gag the opposition and to suppress the people’s democratic rights and opposition. The memorandum quoted several instances of it, like police attack on CPI(M) leader Sanjay Siddharth with intention to kill him; BJP-RSS attack on CPI(M) leaders and the adivasis and dalits in village Malbandi under Bharagora block; police atrocities against CPI(ML) functionaries at Kasmar, police lathicharge at Ratu, etc. The memorandum demanded high powered inquiries into all these incidents.

The memorandum also demanded action on the B D Ram report and implementation of the assembly speaker’s order. The Left leaders also demanded removal of Ramesh Munda and other ministers from the cabinet as they have connections with extremists, and accused the Arjun Munda government too of having connections with extremists and criminals and of using them for electoral purposes in order to remain in power.

The Left parties accused the Munda government of misusing the state public sector board and corporations for patronising political personages for their services to help the ruling parties in grabbing power in the state. Such figures include persons like Tileswar Sahu despite his criminal background. The Left leaders condemned the chief minister Arjun Munda for installing himself as the chairman of TVNL.

The Left leaders demanded financial and technical help to the state public sector units for their revival, and that there should be no political interference in their functioning.

The Left parties pointed out how the Arjun Munda government has been  violating the constitutional provisions and High Court orders by not holding panchayat elections, by not issuing notification for constitution of gram sabhas, and by not holding municipal elections. The memorandum demanded immediate holding of panchayat elections in Jharkhand, notification on constitution of gram sabhas and for holding municipal elections.

The Left leaders drew attention to the failure in implementing the public distribution of food grains and other essential commodities. These include the annapurna and antodaya schemes and those for the BPL and APL card holders. These parties demanded removal of corruption in the public distribution system and food security schemes, and their effective implementation.

In respect of the food for work programme in the state, the Left leaders accused that no work had commenced in most of the districts. At some places the programme is being implemented through middlemen, without any notification to the proposed beneficiaries and without enlisting their names after holding village level meetings. The Left parties demanded that the work should be done under supervision of all-party committees till the panchayat elections are held; thereafter the programme must be implemented under the supervision of the elected panchayats after the gram sabhas have properly enlisted the beneficiaries.

The Left parties’ memorandum demanded revision of minimum wages and their effective implementation, and permanent solution of the problem of water scarcity.  The Left leaders opposed trifurcation of the state electricity board and its privatisation at the instance of the World Bank, and opposed any increase in electricity tariffs. They demanded an increase in electricity production and its uninterrupted supply to the urban and rural areas.

The Left leaders demanded a package for revival of sick and closed industrial units, and effective steps for revival of central public sector units. They strongly opposed the permission being given to multinational corporations to grab the mineral resources of Jharkhand, and demanded total ban on the export of these minerals from the country. They also opposed the grant of rights to the private sector, including multinational corporations, on national resources like water. They demanded that the “Samta” judgement of the Supreme Court must be strictly adhered to in the scheduled areas. It may be recalled that, by this judgement, the Supreme Court has imposed complete ban on the private sector take-over of tribal land for industrial purposes. (INN)