People's Democracy

 Orissa: CPI(M) Runs Law-Breaking Campaign

THE Orissa state unit of the CPI(M) has been running a campaign from the first week of June 2011, on several crucial issues facing the people. The major demands of the campaign are --- increase in the minimum daily wage to Rs 200, land and land patta to the landless, ration card to all the families and supply of essential commodities through ration shops, a master plan to provide employment to the unemployed youth, and increase in the allowance of old, widow and disabled persons to Rs 1,000 per month.

In this process, 257 leading cadre of the CPI(M) went to jail at Bhubaneswar, the state capital, and elsewhere. These included the party’s state secretary Janardan Pati, state secretariat member Jaganath Misra, Alikisore Patnaik, and state committee members Kailash Sadangi and Rajendra Panda. More than 20 women comrades also went to jail. The police, however, refused to arrest the demonstrators in several places. The cadre who courted arrest at Puri and Jaleswar were not produced before a magistrate by the police.

A total of over 15,000 CPI(M) activists participated in this law breaking movement that has encouraged the people to intensify the agitation.

Meeting on June 19, the party’s state committee has decided to go in for law-breaking actions before the Orissa legislative assembly on July 15, during its monsoon session.

The meeting also decided to hold meetings at all the district headquarters against the attacks on party members and supports in West Bengal.

The party state committee extended support to the ongoing movement against the land acquisition for the proposed POSCO steel plant.