TAMILNADU

Thousands Participate In CPI(M)’s Jail Bharo Programme

AT the call of the CPI(M), thousands of Party workers picketed the state and central government offices in the state on September 13 demanding land, food and employment for all. This was as part of the countrywide movement called by the Party central committee on these issues in the months of August and September.

In Chennai, the picketing was led by N Varadarajan, secretary of the state committee of the Party and among those who participated included T K Rangarajan, A K Padmanabhan and U Vasuki, all central committee members of the Party. They had participated in Ramanathapuram, South Chennai and Thiruvallur centres respectively. All state-level leaders, parliamentarians and legislators had participated in various district centres and courted arrest.

Earlier, in the month of August, the Party had conducted a week-long campaign during August 15-21 highlighting these basic demands of the common man. More than two lakh handbills were distributed and 1200 street corner meetings were conducted. Apart from highlighting the three basic demands, the Party brought to the notice of the public the attitude of the central government which was reluctant to implement the pro-people measures of the Common Minimum Programme (CMP). Privatisation of profitable public sector enterprises, foreign policy, and hike in petroleum prices, etc also came in for sharp criticism in this campaign.

The corrupt and anti-people state government led by Jayalalitha has been, of late, shedding crocodile tears and announcing a slew of measures to please the common man. The basic character of the AIADMK remaining the same, there is no perceptible change in the style of governance. Especially on the question of her labour policy, she had outrightly refused to take back the 10,000 road mazdoors dismissed by her earlier and denied collective bargaining rights of the transport and electricity workers. Jayalalitha had also announced unilateral wage increase to them, which was much less than the expectations of the ordinary workers. All these issues formed part of the August campaign and the picketing programme as well.

With the August campaign setting the background for this one-day statewide picketing programme, thousands of cadres milled towards the centres for courting arrest right from the morning on September 13. In all, throughout the state 95,000 CPI(M) workers were arrested in 404 centres as per reports received by the evening of September 13. The very significant feature of the picketing is that a significant 32,000 of those arrested (34.25 per cent) were women. In Krishnagiri centre alone, 12,026 comrades rallied to court arrest. Baffled by the sheer numbers, the few hundred policemen declared all those who assembled there as arrested and the comrades remained there without food and water, in the open  on-the road-prison till the evening. In Thanjavur, Thiruvarur and Nagapattinam districts alone the number of arrests soared to more than 25,000. In Chennai 6,500 cadres were arrested.

The Party state secretariat congratulated those who participated in the jail bharo movement highlighting the demands formulated to alleviate the common man’s sufferings and to usher in a Left and democratic alternative in the realm of politics.