People's Democracy

(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)

Vol. XXXIII

No. 18

May 10, 2009

RAJASTHAN

Sikar All Set To Elect CPI(M) Candidate

G Mamata

�LAL Lal Lehrayega, Amra Ram Delhi Jayega� rent the air in all the meetings across the Sikar constituency in Rajasthan, which is going to the polls in a single phase on May 7, 2009. The Sikar constituency is facing a triangular fight between the CPI(M), Congress and the BJP. The Nationalist Congress Party has declared its support to the CPI(M) candidates in Sikar and Bikaner. The Haryana Janhit Congress of Bhajan Lal has also issued an appeal supporting the CPI(M) candidates in Rajasthan.

Rajasthan being a feudal state witnessed strong peasant movements in the pre-independence era. The Shekhawati region saw a huge movement on kisan issues. The jat panchayats merged and formed the All India Kisan Sabha in the region. Sikar, which falls under this region, has a glorious tradition of peasant movement. This constituency also has an historical importance. It is home to the big capitalists and politicians in our country, but despite this, industrialisation has not taken place here. There is no broad gauge railway line to Sikar, which is key to the process of industrialisation. There are no industries and there is no infrastructural development in Sikar. These have become major issues in this election. There is a growing discontent among the people with both the Congress and the BJP in the state.

People identify the CPI(M) as being the sole party which launched successful struggles for the release of water to the Indira Gandhi canal and for the roll back of the hike in the electricity tariff. The Party won three assembly seats, for the first time in the last elections to the state assembly, on the basis of the movements and struggles it had organised on people�s issues. The prestige of the Party has gone up among the people across the state. The election campaign has evoked good response from the people. �One vote and One note� appeal has seen a large fund contribution from the people. �How can we not win� is the general response that the people are giving when asked to comment on the winning prospects of the CPI(M). Sustained struggles on the local issues, expansion of the Party and the mass organisations, the role of the candidates in leading the struggles from the front and the growing mass base of the Party in these areas formed the basis for the decision to contest three Lok Sabha seats in these elections. Amra Ram is contesting from Sikar, Pawan Duggal from Bikaner and Sheopat Ram from Sri Ganganagar as CPI(M) candidates.

Sikar Lok Sabha constituency comprises of eight assembly segments and the CPI(M) had contested six of them in the last assembly elections, and got 1.82 lakh votes altogether. The present candidate Amra Ram won from Dattaramgarh assembly seat while Pema Ram won the Dhod seat. Under the Bikaner Lok Sabha constituency, we fought four assembly seats and got 80,000 votes. Anoopgarh assembly seat from where the Party has won in the last elections falls under this Lok Sabha constituency. Earlier, in 1989, the Bikaner seat was won by CPI(M) leader late Sheopat Singh. In the Sri Ganganagar constituency, we got 65,000 votes in the last assembly elections.

A large number of activists from the student movement are taking part in the election campaign apart from the activists of the working class and the peasant movement. Sikar has a long history of peasant-student solidarity. Most of the present leadership of the Party and the kisan movement were earlier the leaders of the student movement. The Jat Hostel, in front of which the CPI(M) office is located, was a centre of Left activities. AIKS leader, the late Comrade Trilok Singh was a warden of the hostel.

CPI(M) Organises A Massive Public Meeting In Sikar

A MASSIVE public meeting was organised on May 4, 2009 in the Ramlila Grounds in Sikar in support of the CPI(M) Lok Sabha candidate, Amra Ram. Prakash Karat, general secretary of the CPI(M) attended the public meeting. The state secretary of the CPI(M), Vasudev, CPI(M) MLAs, Pawan Duggal and Pema Ram were on the dais along with the leaders of NCP, JD (S) and CPI.

Addressing the public meeting, Prakash Karat said that in the 15th Lok Sabha elections, the third alternative is trying to form a new government which will be a non-Congress, non-BJP government. He said the Congress and the BJP stand for big capitalists and multi national corporations and not for common people. Today, four of the top ten richest people in the world are Indians, while the living standards of the vast majority of people are deteriorating.

The rich are getting richer and on the other hand, the inequalities among the people are on the rise. He said the Congress-led government has refused to implement the recommendations of the M S Swaminathan Commission which asked the government to provide debt relief and loans at four per cent interest rate to farmers. For providing succour to the people, the CPI(M) has demanded the implementation of these recommendations along with a universal public distribution system. The global economic crisis also has its effect on our country. Lakhs of people are losing jobs due to the crisis. The Congress-led government is neither addressing nor offering any solution to this problem of job losses. Even the NREGA was brought and implemented due to the consistent pressure exerted by the Left parties. It is the Left, which opposed the opening up of the retail trade, foreign direct investment in banking and insurance sector, which minimised the damage to the economy due to the current recession.

The country has witnessed bankruptcy of the policies pursued by the BJP led dispensation and the subsequent Congress led UPA government at the centre. Today, both their fronts are in disarray. There is nothing called the UPA now as the allies of the Congress are fighting it in many states. In 2004, the Left had supported the Congress led UPA government to keep the BJP out of power, on the basis of a common minimum programme. The Congress went against its commitment and pursued anti-people polices. The BJP is no different in pursuing such economic policies. In states, where the Left and third front partners have come together, the BJP will not be able to win. Now, frightened by the prospects of the third front, both the BJP and the Congress are attacking us saying that we will not be able to form government, forgetting that together, they did not manage to get more than 50 per cent of votes in the last Lok Sabha elections. They will not get it this time as well. The ten party alliance constituting the third alternative is gaining strength. This alternative will be able to provide a real and viable alternative at the centre and form the government.

Prakash Karat introduced the CPI(M) candidate, Amra Ram and said that he is a working class party leader, a man of the people. He led the struggles on people�s issues from the front. The people of Rajasthan identify with him. He appealed to the people of Sikar to elect Amra Ram as their representative and strengthen the Left and the third alternative in the coming elections.

(G Mamata from Sikar)