People's Democracy

BOKARO

Seminar Commemorates Comrade PS

Kumar Satyendra

THAT the neo-liberal policies being pursued by the government of India have created two Indias --- a Chamakta India (Shining India) and a Tarasta Bharat (Deprived India) was the point which the CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury stressed at a seminar in Bokaro steel city on January 4, 2013.  

The seminar was organised as a part of the programmes to celebrate the birth centenary of late Comrade P Sundarayya, a renowned freedom fighter, a hero of the armed peasant struggle of Telangana (1946-51) and a legendary communist leader.

Paying tributes to Comrade P Sundarayya, Yechury also dwelt on his struggle against casteism, communalism and against the exploitation of the working class. During the post-independence days too, Comrade Sundarayya continued his struggle for betterment of working class and peasants inside and outside of parliament. He wanted to build a nation free from exploitation of all kind and from inequality. Throughout his life he fought against all types of discrimination based on caste, creed, region and religion. He was in the forefront of the agitation for reorganisation of states and favoured the reorganisation of states on the basis of language. He also led the agitation for the creation of Vishal Andhra.

Yechury also pointed out that the money generated by the hard labour of peasants and workers are getting concentrated in a few hands. That's why at present India has 52 billionaires who control one third of the country's GDP, while about 80 crore Indians are deprived of livelihood and are forced to survive on a meagre Rs 20 a day.

The speaker also commented on the wrong policies of the government and described how this government is a pro-rich one. On the basis of a fiscal deficit which is 6.9 per cent of the GDP, i.e. Rs 5.22 lakh crore, the government says it would have to reduce the subsidies. But the same government does not say that it has exempted the loan amount of industrialists which amounts to Rs 5.26 lakh crore. If only the amount owed by these people had been collected by the government, not only the fiscal deficit would have been liquidated, the government would have also saved Rs 4000 crore for other expenditures.

Commenting on the myriad of corruption scams, he said that if only the 2G scam had been prevented, Rs 1.76 lakh crore would have been made available to meet the cost incurred to give education to each and every child of the nation for five years. As per the government estimation, Rs 35 thousand crore are needed per year to meet this challenge.

Likewise, Yechury said, if the coal scam of Rs 1.86 lakh crore had been prevented, the amount could have been spent to provide each and every citizen of India 35 kg of foodgrains per month at the rate of Rs 2 per kg for two years. As per the government estimation, Rs 95 thousand crore are needed per year to meet this expenditure.

But instead of taking steps to eliminate corruption, the government is trying to suppress the voice raised against it.

Before going to the Birsa Ashram hall where the seminar was organised, the CPI(M) leader visited at the statue of Birsa Munda at the Birsa Chowk and paid tributes to this great son of Jharkhand and India, who fought against the British  empire till his death. At that time, the whole Birsa Chowk wore the look of red as thousands of people with red flags chanted slogans like Inquilab Zindabad and Birsa Munda amar rahen.

From there, the procession moved to the Birsa Ashram. It was led by Sitaram Yechury and the members of the Comrade PS Janma Shati Samaroh Ayojan Samiti of Bokaro. Adivasi men in dhotis and women dressed in green and red bordered saris were in the front of the procession, dancing and beating drums and nagara. The procession continued to raise slogans all the way