People's Democracy

KARNATAKA

Oust BJP, Congress to Save People

Kumar

CARRYING red flags and placards, and raising slogans with an electrifying effect, about 10,000 people gathered in the Freedom Park of Bengaluru on December 11, 2012, with the message “Oust the BJP and Congress, Save the People.” They came from different parts of Karnataka to participate in the political convention organised by CPI(M) to mobilise opinion against the BJP as well as the Congress which both have only allowed massive loots of the nation’s wealth.

CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat, while addressing the rally organised by the party’s Karnataka state committee as part of its statewide political campaign, passionately called for ouster of these two anti-people parties in order to save the nation.

He warned the government that bringing companies like Walmart in would mean making room for still more corruption.

The central government’s decision to allow FDI in multi-brand retail would affect four crore families that depend on retail trade, Karat said, adding that the Left parties would not allow even a single Walmart outlet to be set up in the country. The CPI(M) leader informed the Left parties’ decision to conduct a nationwide campaign against allowing FDI in retail trade.

The UPA government “is the most corrupt regime since independence and bringing Walmart into the country means bringing in more corruption,” Karat stressed. Investigations showed that the Walmart had bribed Indian authorities. “This is the reason why it was forced to suspend four of its officials,” he said. The speakers also alleged that all the policies of the Manmohan Singh led government were biased towards the rich. After waiving the corporate tax dues worth Rs 5.28 lakh crore, the UPA was trying to make up for the deficit by either reducing or withdrawing subsidies being given to poor and needy sections.

The CPI(M) general secretary called for ouster of the UPA government by forming a political alternative to both the Congress and the BJP. “Such a political alternative would be formed by uniting the non-Congress secular and democratic forces through mass struggles based on alternative policies.”

The Left parties were launching a movement in March by taking out four separate jathas from different parts of the country to Delhi, he informed.

The CPI(M) would launch a mass signature campaign of five crore people in support of the demand for supplying 35 kg of grains to the BPL families at Rs 2 per kg. These signatures would be submitted to the prime minister before the budget session, asking the government to adopt in the budget session itself the food security bill with the abovementioned stipulation.

CPI(M) state secretary G V Srirama Reddy launched a scathing attack on the BJP regime which has been intensifying the loot of natural resources and resorting to caste based politics. More than a dozen of its cabinet ministers and many of its MLAs have been booked under one or another criminal case. The BJP is making mockery of the democratic system since it is running the state government without having even simple majority, he said.

CPI(M) state secretariat member G N Nagaraj urged the people to initiate a wave of struggles in order to dislodge both the BJP and Congress led UPA so that people could be saved from more miseries.

Maruti Manpade enlisted the anti-dalit, anti-backward class and anti-minority policies pursued by the BJP government.

Other leaders present on this occasion were Varalakshmi, Nityanandaswamy, U Basavaraju and Meenakshi Sundaram, among others.

Preceding the CPI(M)’s state convention, the party organised two statewide jathas: one from Beltangadi (Mangalore) and another from Basavakalian (Bidar). These jathas brought to light the pro-rich policies being pursued by the two big bourgeois landlord political parties – the Congress and the BJP – while their leaders were resorting to or allowing daylight robbery kind of loot. The CPI(M) jathas also highlighted the pervert nature of the communal practices pursued by the BJP and other Sangh Parivar outfits.

The two jathas concluded at Bengaluru at the time of the CPI(M)’s political convention.