People's Democracy

ANDHRA PRADESH

CPI(M) To Launch

Agitations on People’s Issues

The extended meeting of the CPI(M) AP state committee has decided to mobilise people on a large scale and organise movements for the resolution of the problems being faced by the common people of the state. It has called upon the people to fight back the implementation of World Bank-dictated policies by the state government in the name of reforms.

The extended meeting was held at Sundarayya Vignan Kendram, Hyderabad on December 19, 2010. Below we give the full text of the political resolution unanimously adopted by the meeting.

THE extended state committee meeting of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) demands from the state government to resolve the serious problems being faced by various sections of people of the state immediately.

The faction feuds within the state Congress party have reached their pinnacle. After the appointment of the new chief minister by the Congress high command, the dissatisfactions within the party have flared up. Those MLA’s who did not get a cabinet berth are angry. Even those who got a place in the cabinet are, in some cases, unhappy as to the kind of ministry they have got. Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, Congress MP and son of former chief minister late Y S Rajashekar Reddy, has rebelled against the party and resigned from both party membership and Lok Sabha membership, complaining that the Congress party is insulting his supporters. He later on announced that he is going to form his own party soon. In the events that followed one another at a lightening speed, the Congress high command was forced to enter the scene and do the adjustments in its own ‘style.’ But, despite the high command's intervention, the uncertainty in the government and the dissatisfaction in the party did not subside. On each and every occasion these faction feuds in the party are resurfacing. And the party leaders are busy in dealing with them. The people of the state have given mandate to the Congress party to rule the state for five years. It is already one and a half years since this mandate was given but still these leaders are busy in faction feuds and the distribution of the fruits of power amongst themselves.

On the other hand, there is no time left for the Congress party to look into the problems of the state, its people and the administration. The Congress high command, which should have set right the things, has rather contributed to the degeneration in the situation and thus the worsening of the governance in the state. The sealed-cover culture in the distribution of positions of power has come back again, and has led to the gross distortion of democratic values. So, the entire responsibility for the uncertainty and confusion that has descended on the state for the last few months, rests completely on the shoulders of the Congress high command.

The Congress leadership is responsible for the building up of the animosities among the Telugu people by its ways of opportunism and casual attitude on the question of the unity of the state. The Srikrishna committee, which was constituted to dwell into the matter of integrated/divided state, announced that it will submit the report even before the deadline of December 31. There is a chance that some forces and people might try to aggravate hostilities between the people of various regions in the state and thus jeopardize peace and fraternity by using this occasion as an opportunity. The CPI(M) calls upon the people to be alert in these matters.

There is nobody in the government as of now who is caring about the problems of the people. Because of that, people are being forced to fall back upon the mercy of the administration for getting things done. But in the present situation, even the government administration has become rudderless and passive. As of now, the new chief minister and his ministerial colleagues dont look like moving in the direction of setting the things right and resolving the issues of the people. As their problems go unattended to, the people of the state got vexed up and are taking to the path of agitations. Sections of people like ITDA Gurukul school hostel staff, employees of the Indira Kranti Padham, Asha workers, RTC employees, State Electricity Board employees, Singareni contract workers etc are all on the path of struggle on their genuine demands. Many other sections of people are making plea after plea for the resolution of their problems, and are getting ready for taking part in the struggles. Police lathicharged the IKP workers recently.

A rasta roko programme was organised on December 11 under the leadership of the secular opposition parties seeking increase in the support price for farmers produce. Various sections of the people are appealing to the government on their various problems. Unorganised workers are asking for the implementation of the minimum wages; government employees and teachers are asking for their genuine rights and health facilities; anganwadis are asking for retirement benefits; poor are demanding for housing sites, ration, and the implementation of the employment guarantee scheme; girijans are asking for patta rights on the forest lands and the students are appealing for scholarships and hostel facilities.

Farmers are committing suicides because the paddy crop was damaged in 14 districts of the state. So far 40 farmers have committed suicide because of unbearable losses. The farmers are demanding compensation for the damaged crops. The CPI(M) extended meeting demands the state government to pay attention toward the immediate resolution of these problems.

The state assembly and legislative council meetings were held for six days from December 10. The government utterly failed in showing a way out of the immediate and serious problems facing the people. It wasted a lot of time in the session. It has not responded properly toward the problems of the farmers, despite the opposition raising the issue forcefully. The government announced only namesake measures. But these measures are not sufficient enough in order to rescue the farmers, that too in particular the tenant farmers who have undergone an immense loss. The CPI(M) calls upon the farmers to take to a path of agitation for making the government come down on the question of resolving the issues in a befitting manner. It is only because of people’s agitations in the past that the government has come down and started implementation of the welfare schemes. In the past, huge movements were organised for the sake of housing sites, ration cards, forest rights, resolution of the issues of hostels, for nodal agencies, for identity cards to the tenant farmers etc. The government now is trying to weaken the welfare programmes that are a  result of these people’s struggles.

The poor people of the state, who are already struggling from price rise and decline in employment opportunities, will further suffer if the welfare schemes are weakened. So, the new state government instead of trying to weaken the welfare programmes should rather try to plug the loopholes in them and implement them in a much better way, demands the extended meeting of the CPI(M). It also calls upon the people to prepare themselves for the protection of these welfare programmes and their further strengthening. The meeting also calls upon the people to mobilise themselves for the sake of the struggles on the issues of  protecting and further strengthening of the welfare programmes; house sites for the poor; cultivable land for the landless; and the resolution of the problems of the sections of the people like the poor, weaker sections  – the dalits, minorities, tribals, artisans, and the poor farmers. The state government is implementing the conditionalities of the World Bank in a disguised way in the name of reforms. It is bringing about new legislations for the sake of doing this. Property tax is being raised in some municipalities, along with a tax on garbage in those municipalities. Water meters are also being fixed. The extended meeting of the CPI(M) state committee appeals to the people of the state to fight back these anti-people policies of the government.