People's Democracy

CPI(M) RUNS ANTI-CORRUPTION CAMPAIGN

'Cong Must Spell Out Reasons

For Avoiding JPC Probe'

ANDHRA PRADESH

THE non-Congress, non-BJP political parties have decided to take the issue of massive corruption in UPA regime among the people by holding rallies in major state capitals in the coming period. The first of these rallies will be held in Hyderabad, the date of which will be finalised shortly. They have also demanded that the Congress party and prime minister must spell out the reasons for preventing a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the 2G spectrum scam issue.

CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat, CPI general secretary A B Bardhan and TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu met in Hyderabad on December 15 and took stock of the national political situation in the wake of the stalemate in Parliament over the JPC probe into 2G spectrum scam.

Addressing reporters after the meeting in the CPI state committee office, Chandrababu Naidu said that talks are on with other non-Congress, non-BJP parties for finalising the dates of the rallies in the respective states. He said at least six rallies would be held before the start of the next session of Parliament. He said the nation is being rocked by unprecedented scams of 2G, CWG, IPL etc and that unless the guilty are punished the confidence of the people cannot be restored.

Prakash Karat said that the 2G scam is the biggest scandal in the history of the country with a sum of around Rs 1.76 lakh crore involved and with so many corporates caught up in this. He demanded that the Congress and the prime minister must make clear the reasons for refusing to hold JPC probe into this affair. “Parliament is the supreme body representing the people of the country. Why is the government refusing to allow such a body to investigate a scam of such gigantic proportions”, he questioned. He asserted that only a JPC probe can reveal the reasons why the prime minister did not take any steps to check blatant violation of norms and also why he did not act to recover the losses to the exchequer. Karat felt that this scam is an assault on the people of the country as it was public money that had been blatantly looted. He demanded that the huge sums of lost money must be recovered by canceling the licences and auctioning the spectrum again on the lines of 3G spectrum.

A B Bardhan in his brief remarks said that every holy cow in the system including the judiciary is enmeshed in corruption and a campaign needs to be launched among the people against this all pervading corruption. CPI deputy general secretary S Sudhakar Reddy, CPI state secretary K Narayana, CPI(M) central committee member P Madhu and CPI(M) state secretariat member Y Venkateshwara Rao were also present in the meeting.

Earlier, Prakash Karat released the Telugu booklet on corruption in UPA regime brought out by the Central Committee for campaign among the people at a press conference in M B Bhavan.

(N S Arjun)

DELHI

RESPONDING to the CPI(M) Central Committee’s call for countrywide campaign against corruption from December 5 to 11, the Delhi state committee of the party organised a protest dharna against corruption at Jantar Mantar on December 10. Hundreds of people participated in this dharna.

Mohan Lal, a member of the party’s state secretariat, presided over the programme. Addressing the gathering, CPI(M) state secretary P M S Grewal attacked the UPA government as being the most corrupt in the country’s history. He accused the prime minister of turning a blind eye to the plethora of scams which were going on in the UPA’s regime. He also accused the BJP of playing double standards on the corruption issue, citing their chief minister’s corrupt practices in Karnataka.

Sitaram Yechury, member of the CPI(M) Polit Bureau and Rajya Sabha MP, was the main speaker at the dharna. He said that it was for the first time in the country’s history that an entire session of the parliament could not function because of the government’s obdurate refusal to accept the demand for a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) to probe the 2G scam. He stressed that only a JPC could look into the details of how was carried out such a big scam like the 2G Spectrum scam, which involves money equal to almost 20 per cent of the country’s annual budget. Yechury reminded that the same Congress leaders, who are rejecting the demand for a JPC, did not allow the parliament to function for 17 days when the Tehelka issue came up during the NDA’s regime. He also accused the BJP of playing a double game and said the BJP too is neck deep in corruption and loot of the country’s resources.

Pointing out that the amount of money and resources which were being looted by the politician-corporate-bureaucrat nexus through corruption was more than enough to take care of the basic needs of the poor and suffering people in our country, Sitaram Yechury appealed to the people to intensify the campaign against corruption so that pressure could be built on the government to not only punish those involved in corrupt practices but also recover the looted resources. The CPI(M), along with other secular parties, would start a big campaign after the winter session of the parliament to expose the government, he informed.

CPI(M) state committee members Nathu Prasad and Sidheshwar Shukla also addressed the dharna.

HARYANA

IN Haryana, the CPI(M) took out an impressive procession  in Fatehabad city on December 11 against the series of corruption scams exposed in the recent months. This was part of a week-long countrywide drive demanding the JPC probe into the 2G Spectrum mega scandal, recovery of the entire looted money, arrest of all those involved in these scams and more stringent laws to curb corruption.

Similar activities have been conducted all over the state according to the party state secretary, Inderjit Singh said while addressing the party gathering at Fatehabad. He also lashed out at the Haryana government for formalising and institutionalising corruption as it was clandestinely transferring huge amounts of money to politically favoured persons under the garb of public private partnership (PPP). Singh also stated that the all pervading corruption under the present UPA regime or under the erstwhile NDA rule was an inevitable consequence of the bankrupt policy regime of liberalisation, privatisation and so-called ‘reforms.’ He regretted that the prime minister, Dr Manmohan Singh had himself commented that our country could not afford crony capitalism but, on the other hand, he was refusing to take note of the corrupt nexus of big business, politicians and bureaucracy which was plundering the national wealth. Inderjit Singh declared that the CPI(M) would continue to focus its campaign against corruption which was infecting the very roots of democracy, threatening the rule of law, leading to the denial of equal opportunities to the weaker sections and posing a serious challenge to our national security.

The processionists later held a meeting at Jawahar Chowk where former CPI(M) MLA Harpal Singh and Ram Kumar Bahbalpuria addressed the gathering. A rickshaw decorated with popular cartoons against corruption attracted a lot of attention from the people passing through the main bazaars.

(As the Anti-Corruption Campaign Week of the CPI(M) is still continuing, more reports are expected next week.)