People's Democracy

August Campaign On In Full Swing

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee addressing the public meeting in Chennai

The August campaign of the Party has picked up momentum and is being conducted in full swing across the country. As stated earlier, the response to the campaign continues to be very positive. Below we give some more reports of the campaign.

RADICAL LAND REFORMS NEEDED, SAYS BUDDHADEB

ADDRESSING an impressive rally in Chennai organised by the CPI(M) state committee as part of the ongoing August campaign of the Party, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member and Bengal chief minister, Buddhadeb Battacharjee, stressed that radical land reforms must be the cornerstone of the alternative policies being projected by the Party as they would significantly empower the rural downtrodden.

In his very opening remarks, Buddhadeb congratulated the people of Tamilnadu for bringing about a political change in the state through the assembly elections held in May 2006. A government which had waged a war against its own employees was resoundingly defeated and a democratic and people-friendly government was installed, he added.

Demystifying the secret of winning the elections for the seventh time in a row in West Bengal, that too with an improved margin and seats, the chief minister said that radical land reforms and devolution of power to the people through the panchayats changed the face of rural Bengal over the past three decades and was one of the key reasons for the successes of the Left Front. Dispossessing the lands from the landlords and jagirdars, both through successive agitations and later through legislations, had paved the way in achieving this unique empowerment of rural populace, declared Buddhadeb proudly. There was a thunderous applause when he said that they were able to bring in a land ceiling legislation by which no person in Bengal could own even an inch more than 12 acres of irrigated land or 17 acres of non irrigated land.

“Agriculture is our base and industry is going to be our future” was the chief minister’s refrain while narrating about the present state of Bengal economy. He said that they could dole out – though a marginal amount but unique for the country – Rs 500 to all those who were thrown out of jobs due to closure of industries. Provident fund scheme and other welfare measures have been introduced for workers in the in the non-formal sector like construction activity, beedi-making etc. He said that investment including FDI is being solicited, albeit with conditions, from big corporate houses for developing the state industrially. Medium industries in plastic, textile and BPO sector are being encouraged to augment the employment needs of the educated sections.

Referring to the rising prices of essential commodities throughout the country, Buddhadeb severely criticised the UPA government for displaying total insensitivity in dealing with this issue. Instead of punishing the hoarders, the UPA government had enabled them to indulge in loot and plunder the common man. The disinvestment policy of the UPA government also came in for sharp criticism. “They tried disinvestment in BHEL; the Left blocked it and again they tried to disinvest in NALCO and NLC; the workers and the democratic minded parties along with the Left fought and prevented it. He especially congratulated the role played by senior politician and Tamilnadu chief minister Karunanidhi on this score.

Buddhadeb warned the central government not to succumb to US pressure on the question of nuclear deal and said that it would compromise the independent foreign policy of the country as was witnessed during the vote in IAEA on the Iran nuclear issue. The earnest effort of the government is needed to forge unity among our Asian neighbours like China and Russia to withstand the pressure from imperialist forces, he added. He concluded by saying that the nation is in the midst of economic, political and foreign policy crises which have to be urgently checked by popular people’s movements.

People from Chennai North & South, Kancheepuram and Thiruvallore districts attended the meeting in large numbers. T Nandagopal, secretary of the South Chennai chaired the meeting while the North Chennai district secretary T K Shanmugam welcomed the gathering. N Varadarajan, secretary of the state committee, T K Rangarajan, A K Padmanabhan, central committee Members, B Sundararajan, Thiruvallore district secretary, E Shankar, Kancheepuram district secretary, K Balabharathy and S K Mahendran, both MLAs addressed the meeting. A Packiam, secretary of the Anna Nagar area committee proposed the vote of thanks.

ELSEWHERE IN TAMILNADU

With an undying stamina and grit the state committee of the CPI(M), undertook an intensive campaign throughout the state of Tamilnadu highlighting the basic demands of the people – land, food and employment – as part of the August campaign of the Party. The entire network of the Party and its never-say-die cadres plunged into this campaign barely two months after the crucial electoral battle in the state. 

In Tamilnadu, during September last year, a picketing programme was conducted on these three demands and about one lakh people courted arrest. That the question of “land distribution to the landless, subsidized rice through PDS and creation of new employment opportunities” had become the central point of the manifesto of political parties of various hues in the state elections-2006 is not accidental. The sustained campaign of the CPI(M) on these issues compelled even the die-hard reformists to wax eloquent on the feasibility of the proposed subsidies and the so-called freebies during the election campaign. 

So far, as part of the August campaign, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury addressed a meeting at Tiruppur on August 5 and at Thiruvarur on August 6. On those very same two days, another Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat addressed two different meetings – one at Trichirapalli and the other at Madurai. Yechury in his speeches vehemently criticised the foreign policy of the UPA government and ridiculed its claim of excellent growth rate of 8 per cent when the crisis in the rural side is there for all to see. Altogether in these four centres, Party had mobilised thousands of its cadres in the 16 revenue districts of the central Tamilnadu. As reported earlier, CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat inaugurated the countrywide campaign at Salem on August 1. He had also addressed another meeting the next day at Villuppuram.

All these meetings were preceded by a fortnight long campaign from July 15, 2006. There were van/jeep jathas, cycle rallies and at some places padaytras took place in all districts. Criss-crossing the state the jathas covered thousands of kilometres. During the campaign, not less than 5000 street corner meetings were conducted, in many of which there were cultural programmes by prominent cultural troupes’. About 15 lakh handbills and notices were distributed in the door-to-door campaign. 

(A A Nainar)

IN KERALA

TO mark the beginning of the nationwide August campaign of the CPI(M) against the anti-people policies of the UPA government and to project the CPI(M) alternative policies , thousands of people took out to streets in every village of Kerala, during the first two weeks of August.

In every district, two jathas led by state and district level leaders of CPI(M) toured the villages and towns, and reports show that there has been tremendous response to the message of the campaign from the masses.

In Kollam district, M K Bhaskaran and P Rajendran led the jathas, which were inaugurated by M A Baby and T Sivadasa Menon, respectively. In Calicut, K Mousakutty and P Mohanan led the jathas. In Palghat, the jatha was led by Party district secretary P Unni.

CPI(M) state secretary, Pinarayi Vijayan, flagged off the jathas in Ernakulam and Malappuram. In his inaugural speech, he said that only massive protest would force the UPA government to correct its mistakes, both on domestic and external fronts. 

C V Ouseph and P S Mohanan led Ernakulam jatha. The Malappuram jathas
were led by P Nanda Kumar and K Ummer Master. The Pathanamthitta jatha was led by Ananthagopan, Party distrct secretary and R Unnikrishna Pillai, state committee member.

Despite heavy downpours, hundreds of people gathered at various centres to greet the jathas, which highlighted the problems of the people and the present national situation. In many districts, massive rallies marked the beginning of the jathas.

The massive response of the people to the call of the central committee of CPI(M) shows the intensity of discontentment of the people against the present policies of the UPA government. The ongoing campaign is resulting in the creation of a new awareness among the people of the importance of organising united resistance against the policies, which are harmful both to the nation and people. The campaign highlights the UPA policy of surrender to the imperialist forces and the way it affects the economic sovereignty of India. The crushing experience of the people consequent to the harmful policies of the UPA government in various sectors like agriculture, industry, labour etc found reflection in the campaign. The campaign was also able to enlighten the people on the policy of compromise the UPA government was adopting towards the communal forces by refusing to act firmly.

The UPA government's deviation from the common minimum programme and the consistent opposition of the CPI(M) and other Left parties to it were also highlighted in the campaign.

(Prabha Varma)

‘UPA GOVT DRIFTING AWAY FROM THE CMP’

A massive public meeting was held at Mangolpuri, Delhi on August 12, 2006 as part of the ongoing August campaign of the Party. The main speaker at this meeting was CPI(M) Polit Bureau member and MP, Brinda Karat. Earlier, a stream of colourful rallies comprising workers, youth, women etc, who women raising inspiring slogans, were taken out from Udyog Vihar, Mangolpuri, Sakarpur, Mahavir Enclave, Sitapuri, Sagarpur and all over the west Delhi district to the venue of the public meeting. More than 3000 people participated in these rallies and the meeting, which was presided over by CPI(M) West Delhi secretary, Rampal.

Addressing the rallyists, Brinda Karat charged the UPA government of deviating from the common minimum programme (CMP) and stressed on the need for bringing pressure, both within and outside the parliament, in order to restrain the government from drifting away from the CMP. She reminded that implementation of the CMP is a fundamental condition placed by the Left parties for extending support to the UPA government. She warned that its violation by the government would be resisted with people’s movements. 

She criticised the Congress-led government for diluting the independent foreign policy of the country and for attempting to bring about “reforms” aimed at the benefit of big private corporate houses, contrary to what ha been enunciated in the CMP. She underlined the imperative need for organising popular movements across the country against communalism and neo-liberal economic policies being pursued. She said that the gulf between the rich and the poor grew everyday, unemployment increased rapidly and millions of people sank under the poverty line.

Brinda Karat chastised the Congress-led UPA government for following the dictates of the IMF, the World Bank, and of the MNCs in fashioning its economic priorities. She explained the sky-rocketing prices phenomenon was related to the neo-liberal framework of the ruling class politics. In a situation where our people needed the government’s support to meet the very basic need of survival, the UPA regime was faithfully following in the footsteps of the erstwhile NDA government.

Karat said that without development of women, a country could not be developed and criticised the UPA government for dilly dallying on bringing the women’s reservation bill before parliament. She also stressed that the latest aggression on Lebanon was an imperialist design and demanded the UPA government to take a forthright stand against the Israeli aggression. 

Mohanlal, CITU Delhi state secretary in his speech claimed that the UPA government was bent on interfering with workers’ rights following the dictates of the imperialist globalisation.

Vijender Sharma, CPI(M) Delhi state secretariat member and Rampal, Party local secretary also attended the meeting.

(Subir Banerjee)