People's Democracy
(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
No. 11
March 17, 2013
|
Vol. XXXVII
No. 11 March 17, 2013 |
Rajendra Sharma Maimoona Mollah K Veeraiah Hissar:
March 13 “This
is a shame that in Haryana, Kurki (land
attachment) notices have been served on more than 70
thousands peasants and on the
other hand CAG has exposed huge scam in farm loan waiver
of the UPA
government”, denounced Brinda Karat, CPI(M) Polit Bureau
member, addressing a
big rally at the Earlier
in the day she also addressed a rally at Siwani. At
Siwani, in an interaction
with her, some peasants brought to her notice the Kurki notices issued and pasted on the
walls of their houses by the
authorities. Despite the jatha arriving late by a few
hours, hundreds of people
waited at the Siwani Sub Divisional Complex to greet the
jatha. Here a dalit
rape victim’s mother also met CPI(M) leader and brought
to her notice the kind
of problems she and her daughter are facing in pursuing
the case. Addressing
the gathering, Brinda Karat expressed concern at the
plight of farmers in this
water-scarce area and raised the issue of adequate crop
insurance and payment
of compensation for the damaged crops. CPI(M) state
secretary and Central Committee
member Inderjeet Singh, CPI(M) Central Committee member
and leader of CPI(M)
group in Rajasthan assembly Amra Ram and state leaders
of Party also addressed
the rally. Answering
a volley of questions from the press regarding fresh
exposure of Robert Vadra’s
dubious land deals, Brinda Karat demanded “an
independent inquiry” into all the
charges. She also pointed out that the major culprit in
such land deals is the
dubious land acquisition policy being put in practice by
various state
governments and especially the Congress governments of
Haryana and Rajasthan.
She underlined that trying to limit its attack on
individuals, BJP wants to
protect such policies. Brinda
Karat also pointed out that wherever the jatha has gone,
the question of poor
being deprived of BPL cards has been brought to its
notice. She also pointed
the irony of mountains of grain rotting in government
warehouses in The
jatha, starting from Sikar, in the morning reached
Rajgadh on Haryana-Rajasthan
border to a rousing reception. Earlier, the jatha was
also greeted at the
entrance of Jhunjhunu district. Later, in a procession
of motor cycles and four
wheelers, the jatha was taken to Jhunjhunu Party office.
At Rajgadh, expressing
gratitude for the warm welcome to the jatha, Brinda
Karat in a brief address
also expressed support to the struggle of anganwadi
workers of the area who are
demanding payment of their back wages. Representatives
of anganwadi workers
also handed her a memorandum with their demands. The
day ended with an impressive public meeting at For
Sikar:
March 12 Squarely
challenging Narendra Modi's claim of
believing in putting 'India First', Brinda Karat asked,
“What is his definition
of Continuing, Brinda
Karat said how can Modi, an
embodiment of communal, divisive politics put ' She also dismissed
BJP's claim of presenting an
alternative to Congress led UPA rule and emphasising its
unity with Congress on
basic economic policies, she termed it as a 'false
opposition' and
'non-alternative'. Linking this with the main message of
the jathas, Brinda
Karat pointed out that so far, the country had seen many
yatras and rath yatras
that actually divided the society. But this is a jatha
for unity of the country
and to change it for better. This huge public
meeting was also addressed by Hannan
Mollah, CPI(M) central secretariat member, Vasudev,
Rajasthan state secretary
of the CPI(M) and Central Committee member, Amra Ram,
Pema Ram, member of
assembly from Dondh, Maimoona Mollah from Delhi Party
and few other state and
local leaders. During the course
of the meeting, hundreds of
brick-kiln workers also joined, coming straight from
their demonstration at Collector's
Office. A large number of women, peasants and minorities
too attended the
meeting. On behalf of the jatha, Brinda Karat also
expressed solidarity with
their demands. The jatha reached
the venue of the meeting led by an
almost one kilometre long procession of motorcycles and
four wheelers. Jatha
was received a few kilometres before Sikar by this
impressive cavalcade.
Earlier, starting from Fatehpur this morning, the jatha
was greeted on its way
to Sikar at the entrance of Laxmangadh. On 11th late
evening, the jatha was received by an
enthusiastic crowd of red flag waving activists and
supporters at Sadasar, a
small town on border of Churu, on its way to Fatehpur
from Gadhsana. Another
impressive welcome awaited the jatha at Sardar Shahar,
where a large group of motorcycle
borne activists welcomed and led the j from Kalyanpura
outskirts of the city to
the CPI(M) office in town. By the time jatha was
received by a huge and
enthusiastic crowd of supporters at the gates of
Fatehpur, it was almost
midnight. Fight
the loot of MGNREGA workers Sri
Ganganagar: March 10 “MGNREGA
workers, especially women workers are facing a loot of
their labour”, said
Brinda Karat. Denouncing the loot of labour of poor
rural workers, she also
pointed out: “Piece rate payment of the work is an
important instrument of this
loot”. Brinda Karat, leading Northern Sangharh Sandesh
Jatha was addressing a
big gathering here today at Gandhi Chowk. Addressing
a largely rural audience of MGNREGA workers, peasants
and industrial workers,
Brinda Karat also pooh-poohed the promise of the
Rajasthan government – of
providing 125 days work and Rs 133 daily wage for
MGNREGA work – led by Ashok
Gehlot. She pointed out that MGNREGA workers are not
even getting 100 days work
and Rs 90 as daily wage. “On top of it, work has been
stopped to such a huge
extent that while earlier 35 lakh workers were getting
work, now this number is
reduced to only one lakh”. The
public meeting was also attended by a large number of
representatives of shop
keepers and traders organisations who not only greeted
the jatha and extended
their support but also praised the CPI(M)'s stand on the
issue of entry of FDI
in retail trade. Responding to their sentiments, Brinda
Karat promised that
Left will be in the forefront of the struggle for
stopping the entry of
multinational retail chains like Walmart on Indian soil.
She also pointed out
how CPI (M) in Guwahati, Tamilnadu and Andhra Pradesh
has fought attempts of
Walmart to begin its activities. Brinda
Karat also raised the question of the plight of Guaar
farmers and
demanded that the state government should come clear
with its policy on this
produce. Hannan
Mollah explained the purpose of the jatha. Amra Ram,
Vasudev, Hetram Benival, ex-MLA
and other state leaders also addressed the gathering. Sangharsh
Sandesh Jatha of the CPI(M) reached here on 9th evening
to a rousing
reception. Right at the entrance of the city, hundreds
of trade union workers
greeted the jatha by garlanding the leaders and raising
full throated slogans.
A procession of more than hundred motorbike riders with
red flags led the way
as the jatha traversed through the main roads of
Ganganagar city. On the way,
Brinda Karat and other leaders in the jatha also
interacted with the editors
and publishers of the daily Seema Sandesh. Favouring
Corporates Over Peasants Hanumangarh:
March 9 The jatha was
received in Rajasthan at Sangaria on 8th
evening. After an enthusiastic reception, the jatha
travelled to reach
Hanumangarh. Addressing a large
gathering at Bhagat Singh Chowk,
Brinda Karat expressed concern at the fate of Guaar
producing peasants
of twin districts of Hanumangarh and Ganganagar and
other areas who are being
deprived of a possibility of good rate. This is due to
the intervention of
state government favouring big export companies at the
cost of peasants. It is
to be noted that Guaar, used for extraction of
Shell Gas on a large
scale, last year fetched exporters Rs 33,000 a quintal
in export market with the
help of speculative manipulation, while peasants were
given only Rs 2,000. This
year, larger number of peasants with larger investment
have gone for this crop
hoping for a good rate. But traders have brought the
rate down, and government
instead of acting against speculators who manipulated
market last year has
helped crashing of export price. This has pushed the
peasants to an unending
wait hoping for a better price to sell their produce.
Government, too on its
part is sitting idle and not offering any support in the
form of Minimum
Support Price. Earlier,
denouncing police repression on lawyers in
Jaipur in strongest words, Brinda Karat, asked, “If this
kind of treatment is
meted out to protectors of law, one can well imagine
what could await the poor
or dalits who approach police with their complaints”. At the same time
reacting to questions regarding
police force in Rajasthan resorting to agitational
methods, she squarely blamed
the state government for things coming to such a pass.
“Has the Rajasthan
government acted on time, High Court may not have issued
the orders they did
and hence no police agitation”. Expressing full
solidarity with the agitating
lawyers, Brinda Karat demanded withdrawal of all the
false cases foisted
against agitators and urged that the state government
should start the talks,
to find a solution for their demands. She was
interacting with media here this
morning.
