People's Democracy
(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
No.
29
July 17, 2011
|
Vol. XXXV
No.
29 July 17, 2011 |
Solidarity Actions with
THOUGH the TMC-Congress
regime in
The week long
The booklet released by
the CPI(M) Central Committee about the attacks in
On July 6, as a part of
the solidarity programme, an impressive rally was organised in
Agartala, the
state capital. Responding to the call of the Left Front, thousands of
people
from the eight local committee areas of the city participated in the
rally,
followed by a mass meeting at the Paradise Chowmohoni. The mass meeting
was
addressed by CPI(M) Sadar district secretary Samar Adhya, DC
secretariat member
SankarDutta, CPI state secretary Prashanta Kapali, RSP leader Kalipada
Bhattacharya and AIFB state president Brajagopal Ray. The meeting was
presided
over by veteran CPI(M) leader Chitta Chanda and the party’s state
committee
member Chhaya Bal. The leaders said the current spell of post-election
terror campaign in
The solidarity
programmes continued even up to the 9th of July. A huge rally of
students and
youth in Dukli walked a stretch of 10 kilometres on Saturday, July 9,
to
condemn the attacks on democracy in
TAMILNADU:
HEART-
FELT SOLIDARITY
THOUSANDS of cadre and sympathisers of the
Left parties, including the Communist Party of India (Marxist), in
Tamilnadu
expressed their solidarity with the Left in
The CPI (M) organised meetings in more than
500 centres including the major cities like Chennai, Madurai,
Coimbatore,
Tiruchi, Thirunelveli, Salem, Erode, Tiruppur and Thoothukudi, to
protest
against the politically sponsored violence being perpetrated by the
Trinamul
Congress-led forces on the leaders and workers of the Left Front in
West
Bengal.
The solidarity movement was launched in
response to the nationwide call given by the Central Committee of the
party to
conduct a week-long campaign from July 1 for restoration of peace and
democracy
and the rule of law in
But the one week campaign programme did not
come to an end on July 7. It is still continuing in the state as the
Tamilnadu
cadre have intense feelings regarding the members and sympathisers of
the
Bengal Left Front parties.
An example of this deep-seated sense
of solidarity comes from Virudhunagar
district in south Tamilnadu. In this district, the campaign was
organised at
100 centres, most of which are villages.
The solidarity campaign was kickstarted by
Basudeb Acharia, leader of the CPI(M) group in Lok Sabha, at Chennai on
July 1.
Here he inaugurated on the role of the Mamata Banerjee government
behind the current
spate of violence in
Speaking on the occasion, Basudeb Acharia
recalled that Ms Mamata Banerjee founded the Trinamul Congress (TMC)
with the
very purpose of perpetrating violence against the Left. Immediately on
its
creation in 1998, the TMC unleashed violence against the Left Front in
Hoogly,
Bankura and Midnapore districts.
Acharia charged that, clearly, the current
attacks on the Left Front have the backing of the chief minister Ms
Mamata
Banerjee. “This is not a mere state issue, but a tremendous attack on
the whole
working class of the nation,” he opined.
“The real solidarity with the comrades who
are facing a tough situation in Bengal is to organise more and more
people
under the banner of the Left forces and build the party in other states
like
Tamilnadu,” A Soundararajan impressed upon the party units through this
meeting.
Apart from organising solidarity meetings,
CPI(M) units all over the state are engaging in fund collection to
support the
families of those killed, injured and displaced by the attacks of
TMC-led
goons. Lakhs of rupees have been collected so far from the public and
supporters of the Left. Party members too made their individual
contributions
to the fund.
On July 12, at a special meeting in
Coimbatore, CPI(M) district secretary U K Vellingiri handed over Rs 1.5
lakh to
N Varadharajan, Central Committee member, on behalf of the district
unit. The
CPI(M) MLA from Tiruppur North, K Thangavel, Lok Sabha member P R
Natarajan and
others participated in this meeting.
Most of the CPI(M) district committees in
the state have collected over one lakh rupees each for the solidarity
fund.
Earlier, special regional meetings were
organised by the state committee of the CPI(M) to explain the ongoing
trend in
West Bengal to the district committee level cadre. CPI(M) state
secretary G
Ramakrishnan, N Varadharajan, T K Rangarajan, U Vasuki, other Central
Committee
members and state secretariat members attended these meetings.
More than 1.25 lakh pamphlets about the
violence being perpetrated by the TMC were published in Tamil and
English. (S P Rajendran)
BHUBANESWAR RALLY
CONDEMNS BENGAL ATTACKS
BRAVING incessant rain, the Bhubaneswar
district committee of the CPI(M) organised on July 7, a rally in front
of the
Orissa governor’s house, voicing its protest against the TMC attacks
against
the Left in general and the CPI(M) in particular. In spite of
continuous rain
from the midnight of July 6, leaders and cadres of the CPI(M) and
various mass
organisations attended joined the action, expressing their strong
resentment
against the TMC’s conspiratorial attack on the Left and expressing
solidarity
with the latter in its heroic fight.
Addressing the rally, the CPI(M)’s state
secretary and Central Committee member Janardan Pati said that more
than 400
party cadres and supporters have been killed in West Bengal since the
parliamentary elections in 2009. Moreover, the attacks have become all
the more
severe after the declaration of the assembly election results on May
13, when
the TMC led combine came to power in the state. Aided by US imperialism
and
encouraged by the Congress led central government, the Trinamul
Congress is
resorting to newer methods to suppress the Left movement in West
Bengal. He
told that more than 40,000 Left supporters have been forced to leave
their
hearth and home. More than 400 party offices have been attacked; 147
offices
have been locked; 445 offices of the trade unions and other mass
organisations
have been captured. Even the offices of the Left led college unions are
not
spread. Party supporters as ell as members and leaders of mass
organisations
are being threatened to switch over their allegiance to the TMC. Even
women,
children and people of the minority community are not spared. Heavy and
unbearable fines are being imposed on Left supporters as a precondition
of
continue living in their areas. Properties of the Left supporters are
also
being looted. This tactic is particularly being resorted to in
constituencies where
TMC candidates have won but did not get sizeable votes from the
concerned
areas. This tactic is also being followed where the Left candidates
have won.
It is being done with the sole purpose of weakening the Left, creating
fear
psychosis and fostering an environment where the democratic people do
not dare
to oppose even if anti-democratic and anti-people measures are taken
either by
the TMC led government in West Bengal or by the UPA government in the
country
to appease the imperialists, Indian monopolist and rural feudal rich.
Pati characterised the West Bengal attacks
as attacks on the democratic fabric of our country. He urged upon the
democratic people of Orissa to come forward to defeat this heinous
conspiracy
hatched and attacks being perpetrated by the TMC and its mentors.
Others who addressed the meeting included
the CPI(M) party state secretariat member Dusmanta Das, its Bhubaneswar
district committee secretary Suresh Panigarahi, state AIKS president
Abhiram
Behera, state SFI secretary Sarat Das and state AIAWU secretary
Nityananda
Parida, among others.
This rally and demonstration were preceded
by five local level meetings in Bhubaneswar as a part of the state
level
programme. Protest meeting were also held at Brahmpaur, Jajpur Road and
other places.
Other district committees have chalked out plans to organise similar
solidarity
actions in support of the Left Front of West Bengal against the
dastardly
attacks of the TMC. (Dusmanta Das)
DELHI:
PROTEST MEETING
DEMANDS
END TO TERROR
ON July 7, the CPI(M), CPI, AIFB and RSP
jointly organised a public meeting in Mavalankar Hall in New Delhi to
register their
strong protest against the barbaric attacks being unleashed against
leaders and
activists of the Left Front in West Bengal by goondas belonging to the
Trinamul
Congress and its allies like the Maoists and the Congress, and to
demand an
immediate halt to these attacks. This meeting also expressed solidarity
with
the comrades in West Bengal who are bravely fighting back these
attacks. Over a
thousand people, women, students, youth, workers, teachers and
intellectuals
participated in the meeting.
The CPI(M)’s Delhi state committee
secretary P M S Grewal, who presided over the meeting, said that these
attacks
were nothing new. Between 1977 and 2011, i.e. the period in which there
was a Left
Front government in West Bengal, over 4000 comrades belonging to
different
constituents of the Left Front were martyred at the hands of our class
enemies.
However, the fact remains that these attacks have intensified
especially since
2009, when the Left suffered a setback in the Lok Sabha elections. Thus
the
period between the Lok Sabha and assembly elections saw 388 comrades
being
killed by the Trinamul, Maoists and the Congress.
CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat,
while addressing the public meeting, said that this pattern of attacks
has
continued and become more widespread since the declaration of the
assembly
election results in May 2011; 24 leaders
and activists of the Left Front have been killed since the assembly
election
results. Many more have been injured in these attacks. Women have been
molested. Thousands of Left Front supporters have had to leave their
homes.
Scores of offices of Left Front parties, trade unions and student
unions have
been attacked and ransacked. Some of them have been captured. Some
incidents of
forcibly occupying peasants’ land and looting or destruction of crops
have also
taken place. The purpose, clearly, is to politically browbeat the Left
Front
into submission and to destroy its base.
Through this public meeting Karat demanded
that the West Bengal government immediately intervene to put an end to
the
barbaric attacks unleashed against leaders and activists of the Left
Front and
the general democratic rights in the state. He appealed to all the
democratic
minded sections of the people to raise their powerful voice in defence
of the democratic
rights in West Bengal.
The public meeting was also addressed by CPI
general secretary A B. Bardhan, AIFB general secretary Debabrata Biswas
and
Abani Rai of the RSP. Vijender Sharma, a member of the Delhi state
secretariat
of the CPI(M), moved a resolution in the meeting which was passed
amidst loud
cheers and slogans.
Through the resolution, the public meeting
strongly condemned the dastardly attacks being unleashed on Left Front
activists in West Bengal and demanded an immediate halt to them. It
said the goons
belonging to the Trinamul Congress and their allies, the Maoists and
the Congress,
are squarely responsible for these attacks and terror regime. The
meeting
demanded that the West Bengal government immediately intervene to put
an end to
the barbaric attacks unleashed against leaders and activists of the
Left Front
and the general democratic rights in the state, and also appealed to
all
democratic minded sections of the people to raise their powerful voice
in for
defence of democratic rights in West Bengal.
ON July 13, Delhi state committees of the
CITU, DYFI, AIDWA, SFI and JANAM organised a demonstration at Jantar
Mantar
against the police firing at Haora in West Bengal. The demonstration
was
addressed by Nurool Huda (AIKS), Pushpendra Tyagi (DYFI), K M Tiwari
(CITU),
Shashwati Mazumdar (DTF), Robert (SFI) and Asha Sharma (AIDWA). Puran
Chand,
secretary of the Delhi unit of DYFI, presided over the meeting.
On this occasion, the speakers said the
TMC-lead government of West Bengal has started showing its true
colours.
Attacks on the peasantry and the working class of Bengal have
intensified,
though not even two months have passed, since Ms Mamata Banerjee took
over as
the chief minister of West Bengal. In the latest incident in Haroa of
North 24
Parganas, police firing on the farmers and bargadars,
who were agitating against the land grab by the TMC supporters as a
part of
conspiracy to reverse the land reforms done by the Left Front
government, has
injured four poor farmers.
The speakers also highlighted the gains
that the working class and peasantry of West Bengal had made during the
34 year
rule of the Left Front. Land reforms in Bengal had benefited lakhs of
agricultural families and provided opportunities of livelihoods for the
agricultural labourers and marginal farmers. The new government has
already
started reversing the gains made by the rural poor.
Protestors expressed their anger against
the TMC government in West Bengal and the UPA government at the centre.
Further, they resolved to intensify the movement in solidarity with the
struggling masses of Bengal, as well as against the neo-liberal
policies
pursued by the ruling classes of the country.
RALLIES, DEMOS
ALL OVER PUNJAB
AT the call of the CPI(M) Centre Committee,
rallies, demonstrations and seminars were organised all over the state
of
Punjab against the attacks on democratic rights of the people and
against the
politically sponsored violent and barbarous attacks on the leaders,
activists
and sympathisers of the Left Front in West Bengal.
In district Hoshiarpur, public rallies and
demonstrations were organized in Mahilpur and Garhdiwala. Over 500
activists
and supporters participated in these rallies.
In district Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, a
seminar was organised in Nawa Shehar to express solidarity with the
West Bengal
Left Front that is facing politically sponsored violence in West Bengal
and has
to sacrifice more than 25 precious comrades in the post- election
violence.
Over 300 party workers and supporters attended this seminar. On the
spot, Rs
10,000 were collected as relief for the victims of violence in West
Bengal
unleashed by TMC and Congress goons.
In district Ropar, a seminar was organised
at Ropar; it was attended by some 350 party members and CITU activists.
A
demonstration too took place in protest against violent attacks on the
Left
Front in West Bengal.
The seminar in Baba Sohan Singh Bhakna
Bhawan at Chandigarh was was attended by about 200 party members,
supporters
and intellectuals. The seminar was addressed, among others, by the
former vice
chancellor of Punjabi University, Patiala. In his address at the
seminar, he
told that to extend solidarity with the Left Front in West Bengal,
which is the
advanced outpost of the Left in the country, is the duty of all the
peace and
justice loving people of the country. He strongly condemned violent
attacks on
the Left Front activists by TMC-Congress sponsored anti-social elements.
In district Jalandhar, a seminar was
organized at Shahkot. About 200 party workers as well as supporters and
activists of mass organisation tooks part in this seminar.
In district Sangrur, seminars were
organised at Sangrur and Malerkotla. About 200 party workers
participate in
Sangrur and 250 in Malerkotla.
At Ludhiana, over 200 workers participated
in a public meeting and took out a procession against the TMC and
Congress
attacks on the Left Front.
Seminars and demonstrations were organised
in Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Bathinda and Patiala districts as well.
Addressing these rallies and seminars,
party leaders said West Bengal has been and continues to be a bastion
of the
Left movement in the country and that is why enemies of the Left want
to weaken
the Left movement in West Bengal. This is why all kinds of anti-Left
forces
from Maoists to the TMC have joined hands to attack the Left Front in
its
bastion. Supporting the Left Front of West Bengal, they said that any
attack to
dismantle the gains achieved under the Left Front government would be
given a
befitting reply by the working class and justice loving people of our
country.
The people of Punjab have always stood and will stand by the Left Front
of West
Bengal. The speakers warned the West Bengal government led by Ms Mamata
Banerjee and the UPA government at the centre to take immediate steps
to stop
the attacks on democratic rights of the people of West Bengal and the
violent
attacks on the leaders and workers of CPI(M) and other Left Front
partners.
They urged the people of Punjab to contribute liberally to the West
Bengal
relief fund.
‘PM Must Intervene to Restore
Democratic Rights in Bengal’
Solidarity Meeting in Hyderabad
Condemning the big assault on democratic
rights in Bengal ever since the advent of Trinamool Congress regime, a
meeting
organised in Hyderabad on July 13 called upon the people to protect
democracy
by resisting this assault. The meeting appealed to all democratic
forces in the
country to condemn the brutal attacks against the Left Front activists
in
Bengal. It also demanded prime minister Manmohan Singh and Bengal chief
minister Mamata Banarjee to immediately intervene and stop these brutal
attacks
on Left activists.
State units of CPI(M), CPI, RSP and Forward
Bloc organised a meeting at Basheerbagh Press Club in Hyderabad
condemning the
ongoing attacks on Left workers in Bengal and expressing solidarity
with the
people of Bengal. The secretaries of Hyderabad city committees of these
parties
acted as presidium for the meeting.
Addressing the meeting, CPI(M) central
committee member P Madhu charged that the ongoing violence is being
actively
abetted by the Trinamool Congress regime. Since the assembly election
results,
over 14 Left activists have been killed while the figure since last Lok
Sabha
would cross over 388, he said. Around 7351 Left supporters had to leave
their
homes and seek refuge elsewhere due to these attacks. There is an
atmosphere of
terror in the rural areas of Bengal today, he said. He criticised the
corporate
media for downplaying these attacks. The CPI(M) leader asserted that
the Left
will not be cowed down by such dastardly attacks and would continue to
stand by
the poor in Bengal.
CPI deputy general secretary S Sudhakar
Reddy in his address called upon all democratic forces to strongly
condemn
these attacks, which he termed as an assault on the democratic
structure
itself. He reminded that despite the defeat in terms of seats, the Left
continues to enjoy the support of over 41 per cent of the electorate
and
expressed confidence that it will rebound in Bengal shortly.
State secretary of RSP, Janakiram, and
state secretary of Forward Bloc Muralidharan also addressed the
gathering which
turned out in good numbers despite incessant rains right from morning
in the
city.
(INN)
