People's Democracy

PUNJAB

Izzat Sambhal Campaign Evokes Huge Response

IN Punjab the Sanjha Morcha, comprising the CPI(M), CPI, Punjab People’s Party (PPP), and SAD (Longowal), organised a huge rally at Sangrur on December 8, with over 20,000 people from various parts of the district participating in this rally. The rally was part of the campaign of the Izzat Sambhal campaign which was launched by the Sanjha Morcha rally in Dhudike on November 6. Before this rally in Sangrur, rallies have been held at Hoshiarpur, Taran Tarn, Ropar and Malaut as well. The rally held at Sangrur was chaired by Mrs Surjeet Kaur Barnala.

The rally was addressed by CPI(M) state secretary Charan Singh Virdi, its state secretariat member Raghunath Singh, Sanjha Morcha chairman Manpreet Singh Badal, PPP vice president Bhagwant Maan, former MLA Jagmeet Singh Brar, SAD (Longowal) general secretary Baldev Singh Maan, CPI National Executive member Dr Joginder Dayal, and CPI state secretary Nirmal Singh Dhaliwal, apart from several state and district level leaders of the four parties.

Addressing the rally, Manpreet Singh Badal said that the record beating rises in the prices of essential commodities are a result of the anti-people policies of both the central and the state governments. Accusing the Congress and the Akali-BJP leaders of accumulating huge money by adopting unfair means and misusing the state power, he said that when Sanjha Morcha would come to power and form a government, the money and wealth accumulated by unfair means and corrupt methods would be confiscated and deposited in the state exchequer. He further said that the public distribution system (PDS) would be strengthened and all the needy people would be supplied wheat at the rate of Rs 2 per kg and rice at Rs 3 per kg. Education up to BA would be provided free from any cost. In their addresses, leaders of the Left parties, i.e. the CPI(M) and CPI, said that the people of Punjab were fed up with the misrule of the successive governments of Congress and the Akali-BJP combine. They expressed the hope that the people would defeat the Akali-BJP combine as well as the Congress, and would vote the Sanjha Morcha to power. They further said that the Sanjha Morcha would contest all the 117 assembly seats in the state unitedly and announced that the government of the Sanjha Morcha would regularise the services of all the workers who had been appointed on contract basis in various government and semi-government departments and would not allow any contract labour system in future. They also assured that the Sanjha Morcha government would withdraw all the false cases registered against the peacefully agitating workers, employees and peasants during the rule of the Congress and the Akali-BJP governments.