People's Democracy

AUGUST 23 PROTEST DAY

Nationwide Protests

For Effective Lokpal Bill

AT the call of the Left and secular opposition parties, demonstrations and dharnas were held all over the country on August 23 to demand an effective Lokpal legislation and other measures to curb corruption.

Delhi: MPs belonging to various parties sat on dharna in Parliament House carrying placards demanding an effective Lokpal Bill.

Kerala: In 138 centres big demonstrations were held.

Tamilnadu: In Tamilnadu, picketing outside collectorates were conducted in all districts.

Andhra Pradesh: In Hyderabad a dharna was organised and similar dharnas were organised in all district centres.

West Bengal: A procession was organised in Kolkata. Rallies and processions were taken out in all other district centres.

Tripura: A big rally was organised in Agartala. Processions and meetings were organised in all other district centres.

Karnataka: A dharna was organised in Bangalore and there were demonstrations and dharnas in nine other districts.

Uttar Pradesh: In Uttar Pradesh, demonstrations and dharnas were held in Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Deoria, Balia, Etawah, Bulandshehar, Sultanpur and other places.

Orissa: A dharna was staged before the Raj Bhavan in Bhubaneswar.

Jharkhand: A big dharna was organised in Ranchi. Dharnas were also organised in Dhanbad, Bokaro, Sahebganj, Hazaribagh, Palamu and other districts.

Rajasthan: Demanding firm action against corruption, the Left parties organised demonstrations and rallies in Jaipur and 17 other districts.

IN KOLKATA

COMBAT against corruption and corporate loot is the call of the nation. Thousands of people under the banner of West Bengal Left Front hit Kolkata streets to protest against corruption, corporate loot and neo-liberal economic policies.

The rally was marked with banners and posters demanding an effective Lokpal Bill, judicial enquiry commission and electoral reforms. Prior to the rally, Left Front chairman Biman Basu addressed the huge gathering at Metro channel near Esplanade. He made it clear that the CPI(M) and the Left Front have no problem with Anna fighting against corruption in his own style. He also emphasised on pursuing and converging all the anti-corruption struggles to compell the union government to take apt and necessary steps to curb rampant corruption. But maintaining the Party’s reservations on the mode of Anna’s movement, Basu was keen to mention that the root-cause of corruption is the neo-liberal economic policy and crony capitalism. In order to combat corruption we must fight to demolish the neo-liberal policies of the government. The mega-scams that are unfolding now, show how thousands of crores of rupees worth of public resources have been illicitly cornered by the big corporate- politician-bureaucrat nexus. He also dealt with the grave issue of unearthing black money from the Swiss bank accounts. Basu demanded that the central government must reveal the names of those having secret bank accounts in Swiss or other overseas banks. Basu also mentioned that the increasing rate of bribery and the scourge of black money are polluting the democratic space of the nation. The country must have effective electoral reforms in order to combat the increasing menace. Basu emphasised that the proposed reforms must be implemented, otherwise the LF is ready to organise huge nation-wide protest campaigns. Other Left leaders, including Manjukumar Majumder, Pratim Chatterjee and Dilip Sen also shared the dais.

After this short proceeding, the rally started, led by the leaders of the West Bengal Left Front. Thousands of people walked through the streets holding banners showing the main demands and shouting slogans. The procession enthusiastically demanded the enactment of an effective Lokpal Bill and stringent action to unearth the black money from the overseas accounts. The rally moving through the Lenin Sarani, ended at the Sealdah Court and the nationwide battle to combat corruption got pumped up again.

IN KERALA

AS part of the Left nationwide protest campaign in favour of an effective Lokpal Bill, the LDF held protest marches across the state of Kerala in which thousands of people participated. The LDF also observed the protest day to demand the resignation of chief minister Oommen Chandy, who is tainted in the infamous palmoline case.

In Thiruvananthapuram, workers of three constituencies participated in the ‘March to Secretariat’. Rest of the 127 constituency headquarters witnessed massive rallies demanding the resignation of the chief minister.

The leader of opposition in the state assembly, V S Achuthanandan inaugurated the march. Speaking on this occasion he demanded that Oommen Chandy must realise the wrath of the people against corruption and he should quit since he stood charged in the palmoline case.

CPI(M) state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, CPI leader Binoy Viswom, JD(S) Gangadharan Nadar, Kerala Congress leader V Surendran Pillai led the march. CPI(M) central committee members E P Jayarajan and A Vijayaraghavan inaugurated the march at Thalasseri and Thrissur respectively. LDF convenor Vaikom Viswon and central committee member P K Sreemathi also attended the protest marches.

IN TRIPURA

THE four Left parties organised a protest march in Agartala followed by a mass meeting as part of the nationwide protest programme called by Left and secular parties for an effective Lokpal Bill. Apart from Agartala, protest programmes were organised all over the state.

In Agartala, the protest march got under way from the Children's Park. The slogan shouting march was led by CPI(M) state committee secretary Bijan Dhar, state secretariat member Manik Dey, Narayan Kar, Forward Block state president Brajagopal Roy and other Left Front leaders.

After the march a mass meeting was organised at Paradise Chowmohoni. Addressing the gathering Bijan Dhar vehemently attacked the UPA government for the gigantic scams unfolding during its term in the office. He asserted that the power to enact laws is with the parliament and its right must not be challenged by anyone. The present Lokpal Bill placed in the parliament by the government is a toothless one. He reiterated the Left demand for passing of an effective Lokpal Bill in parliament that would bring the prime minister also under its ambit. He underlined that the main source of corruption lies with the neo-liberal economic policies being pursued by successive governments. He gave a call for popular mass struggles to root out corruption in the country. CPI state secretary Prashanta Kapali, CPI(M) central committee member Rama Das and other Left Front leaders also addressed the meeting.

IN AP

The four Left parties and Telugu Desam party held joint protest actions across the state of Andhra Pradesh demanding passage of an effective and comprehensive Lokpal Bill to curb the rampant corruption in the country. Rallies, protest meetings, effigy burning, token hunger strikes etc were held in major cities and towns of the state in which thousands of people participated.

In Hyderabad, the protest meeting at Dharna chowk near Indira Park was addressed by CPI(M) state secretary B V Raghavulu, CPI state secretary K Narayana, TDP Polit Bureau member Devender Goud and leaders of leaders of RSP and Forward Block.

Raghavulu called upon the government to hold talks with Anna Hazare and resolve the crisis. Lambasting the government for refusing to bring the PM under the purview of the Bill, he said without doing this the Bill would be useless. In this context he held the prime minister Manmohan Singh responsible for the 2G and KG basin gas scams as he chose to ignore the written warnings of Left MPs in this regard.

Raghavulu also underlined that mere Lokpal Bill would not stop corruption as the roots of corruption lay in the corporate-politician-bureaucrat nexus. That nexus must be shattered by a comprehensive reforms in electoral and judicial sectors along with unearthing of black money in the country. He called upon people to continue this struggle and make it more broadbased to achieve this goal.

In Vijayawada a huge rally was taken by the Left parties and TDP to mark their protest against central government's dillydallying on bringing an effective comprehensive Lokpal Bill.

IN TN

ACTIVISTS of  CPI(M), CPI and AIFB staged protests across Tamilnadu demanding the central government to enact a comprehensive and effective Lokpal Bill. This agitation was part of the nationwide call given by nine parties. Thousands of people took part in the agitation.

Raising slogans against the central government, the protestors faulted the central government had failed to act decisively against corruption, which was rampant during the United Progressive Alliance regime. The protestors said that in spite of nation-wide agitations demanding tough action against corruption, the UPA government was not listening to the popular demand.

At Chennai, CPI(M) state secretary G Ramakrishnan, CPI state secretary T Pandian, and AIFB MLA P V Kathiravan addressed the protestors. Protests were also held  at Madurai, Coimbatore, Tiruchi, Thirunelveli, Nagarcoil , Theni, Erode, Salem and other parts in the state.

IN PUDHUCHERRY

Left parties in Puducherry staged a protest-cum-demonstration against corruption opposite the Head Post Office. The Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and Forward Block joined hands to stage this protest.

Secretary of Pradesh committee of CPI(M) V Perumal, Tamilnadu state committee member T  Murugan, secretary of local CPI unit N Kalainathan and national council member of CPI R Viswanathan participated in the protest.

IN ORISSA

AS per the national level call of the Left and non-Congress secular parties, a joint dharna programme was organised by CPI(M), CPI and Forward Bloc in front of Orissa Raj Bhawan at Bhubaneswar on August 23 demanding passage of an effective Lokpal Bill and other corrective measures to check rampant corruption.

Addressing the dharna, CPI(M) Orissa state secretary Janardan Pati said it is the neo-liberal economic policy regime that has spread corruption to every walk of life and huge scandals are occurring one after another. The nexus between  politicians, bureaucratic and corporate houses has become strong under this policy regime.  With people from all walks of life becoming victims to this corruption, they are yearning for a strong and effective Lokpal Bill to check this rampant corruption. The response to Anna Hazare’s campaign is a reflection of this yearning. But unfortunately the UPA-II government at the centre has utilised police force to suppress the voice of the people.

Others who spoke in the dharna included Dibakar Nayak, CPI state secretary, Forward Bloc state secretary Santosh Mitra, CPI(M) state leaders Sivaji Patnaik, Santosh Das, Ali Kishore Patnaik, Dusmanta Das, Sisir Hui and Puspha Dash. Later a delegation met the governor and handed over a memorandum.