Left Victory in West Bengal and Kerala will Boost Left and Democratic Alternative: Prakash Karat

Interview with CPI(M) General Secretary Com. Prakash Karat

Question: What is your assessment about the outcomes of the state assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, Assam and Kerala?

Prakash Karat: The polling is already over in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Puducherry. I think we can discern a common pattern in all these polls, which is a strong trend against the Congress and its allies. In the case of Tamil Nadu of course, it is the DMK-Congress alliance. In Assam, it is the Congress Party which is in coalition in the state with Bodo People's Front. In Kerala, it is the UDF which is the Congress led alliance. In Kerala specifically, the LDF Government has been there for five years and there is no anti-incumbency trend against the Government. We can expect a return of the LDF in the Government. In Tamil Nadu, the situation has become clearer after the polling that the AIDMK led alliance is going to win. In Assam, last time also, there was no majority for any party. I think there will be no majority for any party this time too and the Government would depend on the post poll alliance.

Question: Corruption and price rise seems to have become major issues during the assembly polls. What has been its impact on the prospects of the LDF in Kerala?

Prakash Karat: Both corruption and inflation are very major issues at the national level. These have also found repercussions in the state assembly elections as well. In fact, these two issues have agitated the people. In this context, the LDF is positioned at a great advantage because as far as corruption is concerned, the image of the Congress, particularly the UPA Government at the centre is at its lowest with so many major corruption scandals. In Kerala, the UDF is also characterized by its past corrupt misdeeds. Before the elections, one of the former ministers of the UDF has been jailed for one year for corruption by the verdict of the Supreme Court and this is a case which was fought by the present Chief Minister who had appealed in the Supreme Court. In Kerala, the corruption issue dominated during the election campaign and the record of the LDF Government and the Chief Minister stood out in stark contrast to that of the Congress and its allies on the issue of corruption. I think this was a major factor that could have influenced the electorate in Kerala.

Question: Do you see these issues having a major impact in West Bengal too?

Prakash Karat: Both price rise and corruption will have its impact on the West Bengal elections because all over the country, people have become more conscious about the evil of corruption, especially after the 2G spectrum scandal, the biggest corruption scandal in India after independence. For example, we found that in Tamil Nadu villages, every man, woman and child know about the 2G scam. In Bengal also, I am sure the people are following what is happening in the country on the issue of corruption and the Left Front here has also made corruption a major issue. So, I think that the record of the Congress led Government at the centre, with Trinamool Congress as its part and their corrupt regime, what it holds out for the people of Bengal, I think the link would be explicitly made.

Question: It is being alleged that the 7th Left Front Government could not achieve much and this tenure has been marred by incidents like Nandigram. How would you react?

Prakash Karat: We have to see the overall record of 7th Left Front Government. Here is a Government which has in the last five year period, redistributed 20000 acres of land to the landless and has maintained steady agricultural growth when at the all-India level, agricultural growth has stagnated. In West Bengal, the rate of growth in agricultural production is far higher than the national average. Secondly, under the Left Front Government, measures have been taken to alleviate the problems of the people due to price-rise and the Government has initiated the Rs. 2 per kilo rice scheme, which it now wants to expand to more people. It has sought to overcome the limitations of the BPL policy of the centre with targeted PDS. Workers in closed factories have been given allowances of Rs. 1500 per month. It has extended provident fund benefits to the unorganized sector. So, this Government has done much in a period when the policies of the Central Government have actually contributed to inflation and agrarian crisis. As against that the Left Front Government has acted as a buffer to counter the adverse impact of the Central Government policies. These aspects, I think will be highlighted in the West Bengal election campaign.

Question: Has the Left Front Government been able to deliver development for the Muslim minorities in West Bengal?

Prakash Karat: Land reforms in West Bengal have led to land being distributed among poor peasant families and landless families belonging to the Muslim community. 18% of the total land distributed in Bengal has gone to Muslim households. This is the Government which has taken a major step forward in implementing the recommendations of Ranganath Mishra Commission regarding provision of job reservation for Muslims. We have done it by keeping in mind the constitutional and legal constraints - by giving 10% reservation to the OBCs among the Muslims and that would benefit 1.72 crore people among the Muslim population in the state. No other Government, neither the centre nor any other State Government has taken that step. Even if you look at the advancement made in the sphere of education and scholarships disbursed within the Muslim community, the provision of credit for minority community for their enterprises etc. Bengal has one of the best records in the country. So, I think that the misconception which arose due to the Sachar Committee's partial picture of what is happening to the socio-economic development of the Muslim minorities has been corrected by the concrete steps taken by the Left Front Government in this regard.

Question: Sections of the media and some intellectuals view the Trinamool Congress supremo as a progressive politician fighting for change in Bengal. How do you explain this?

Prakash Karat: Well, this has a history in Bengal. We have seen earlier too that sections of the ultra-left join hands with the main ruling class party. This has come about in West Bengal mainly because the Left here is a strong force. Whenever, the rightwing forces want to outflank the Left, they join hands with the ultra-left. Something of that sort is happening again in West Bengal, where the Trinamool is aligning with the Maoists and vice-versa. This has also been happening among a section of intellectuals, who for whatever reasons are trying to paint a false picture of Mamata Banerjee as a radical politician. The slogan for change is given in this respect, which I think is a transient phenomenon. Eventually, how much one intellectualizes and theorizes, the real truth about the rightwing opposition in the state will come out.

Question: What do you think about the role of the major national parties, the Congress and the BJP in these elections?

Prakash Karat: Here again we see that where the CPI (M) and the Left are strong we tend to find the convergence of the anti-Left and anti-Communist forces. We have seen it in Kerala for a long time. In fact, in Kerala, there is a system of selling of BJP votes. They do not just transfer the votes to Congress but actually sell their votes to the Congress led UDF. Here in West Bengal also, because of the class imperative particularly in the countryside, the vested interests and the old landed interests get together. Some of them belong to the Congress and some of them belong to the BJP. The BJP at the national level does not want to see the Left existing as an alternative to the Congress. They do not want the Left to be emerging as the rallying point for all the non-Congress and non-BJP forces. So, it is a political aspect, which makes them also to prefer the Congress party as a lesser evil for them than the Left Front here. That has actually found place in the utterances of Narendra Modi when he came here and praised Mamata Banerjee for playing the role of a fighter for freedom or liberation, whatever! The BJP is not going to play any significant role in West Bengal as an alternative to the Left Front and thus it is helping the Trinamool-Congress combine as we have noticed in Modi's speech during the Bengal election campaign.

Question: In the backdrop of escalating violence in West Bengal over the past two years, how does the Left Front plan to restore peace in the state?

Prakash Karat: Well, the violence that the state has seen in the last two years, particularly after the Lok Sabha election results, comes in the background of the rightwing opposition sensing that after some of the reverses suffered by the Left Front, there is a chance to push back the Left. They have used violence in the most undemocratic and barbaric manner. This is the root cause for the escalation of violence now. One dimension of this political violence is the Maoist violence that is again targeting the CPI (M). In this election, this political gang up may once again unleash violence against the Left Front. If the Left Front wins this election, then it would be easier to restore peace and normalcy in certain areas affected with such political violence against the Left.

Question: How do you assess the prospects of the Left Front in the West Bengal assembly elections? Has the situation changed from 2009?

Prakash Karat: Definitely there is change in situation compared to 2009. What happened in 2009 came in a specific set of circumstances at the state and the national level. But I think the political situation has now changed both at the state level and national level. As I said that for the people, a major issue like price rise is directly linked to the role of the Trinamool and the Congress party at the centre. This is one aspect. Secondly, what has been done by the Left Front Government administratively in the last two years and the way we have overcome some of the shortcomings and errors which were there both at the political-organizational aspects and the Government aspects - taking both these factors into account I think that there will be a reversal of the trend that was noticed in 2009 Lok Sabha elections, which would mean that the Left Front would gain ascendance and that would be reflected in the election result.

Question: How are you envisaging the post-poll scenario and its impact at the national level?

Prakash Karat: If we take into account the prospective election result of all these polls in five states, I think both West Bengal and Kerala would be extremely important for the importance of the Left in the country. The victory of the Left in Bengal and Kerala will help the Left continue on the path of struggle for a left and democratic alternative at the national level, which is an ongoing process. I think that would get a fillip and a boost. But I think that the results in Tamil Nadu also would be significant because it will be a direct blow to the whole neoliberal-corrupt nexus, which is now represented by the UPA Government. After all, as I said, that corrupt nexus is directly reflected in the rule of the DMK led State Government in Tamil Nadu. Therefore the Tamil Nadu result would also have a major impact at the national level.

(Source : www.cpimwb.org)

CPI(M) seeks ordinance on tenant farmers in Andhra Pradesh

The CPI (M) Andhra Pradesh State Committee has demanded that the State government to take steps to promulgate the ordinance on tenant farmers without any further delay.

 

The party's State secretariat, which met in Hyderabad on Monday, expressed concern that the government was yet to bring in the ordinance aimed at protecting the interest of lakhs of tenant farmers in spite of its repeated assurances. The Congress which showed keenness on passing Bill hiking salaries of the legislators did not evince the same interest on the “Land Licensed Cultivators Bill”, which was introduced in the Assembly. Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, however, assured on March 31 that an ordinance would be promulgated, but no steps had been initiated in that direction so far and this was giving scope for apprehensions over the government's commitment on the issue. The agriculture season had commenced and tenant farmers should make arrangements for seeds, fertilisers and other inputs before the month-end. The CPI (M) demanded that the government take steps to issue identity cards at the earliest to tenant farmers so that they could secure loans from banks. The party urged the government to scrap the GO 177 altogether as keeping it in abeyance would not serve the purpose.

(Courtesy : The Hindu)

Communist party of Greece holds massive rally in Athens

Thousands of workers, employers and the self-employed from all parts of  Greece a ttended by  large, national rally of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) in central Athens. The rally was organized to Parliament Square "Syntagma".
 From the rostrum of the meeting Secretary General of the Central Committee of KKE, Aleka Papariga, presented a political proposal to the party to withdraw from the crisis in favor of workers. It proclaimed the beginning of a broad political work among the people across the country, which will be deployed around the proposal.
 Among other things, A. Papariga said:
 "We are experiencing a period of historic significance: the people must stand up to his full height, pass to the offensive and won a landslide victory - to overthrow the power of monopolies. We recognize the value of stocks for immediate solutions, the pressures of problems in factories, offices, districts, municipalities and regions. We are wherever they can, are in the forefront of this struggle. "
 General Secretary of the CC identified a number of examples of the Communists in the final period and added:
 "The enemy acts on the basis of the strategy, therefore, the People's Movement should give strategic resistance. The Prime Minister has made only one truthful remark - that the period of crisis is not known. Half the eurozone is involved in the cycle of crisis. Strong imperialist powers like the U.S., periodically in crisis, from which they can not fully recover. Deep integration of Greece into the European capitalist market through participation in the European Union, Greek exacerbates the unevenness of capitalist economy, the crisis of Greek capitalism and difficult to manage them. As a result, there will be some growth for the capitalists, but not for living standards and people's right to work. This increase would be temporary. Followed by a new cycle of crisis, even deeper than the present. "
 A. Papariga said: "To struggle to be effective need to understand the causes of this crisis. The reason for the Greek capitalist crisis is the same as the causes for the crisis years 1929-33. To the crisis of the early 1970's., A crisis of so-called Asian tigers in 1997, in Russia in 1998 in Argentina and other Latin American countries and recently in the U.S.. Henceforth, if we do not seek radical political change, there will widespread deterioration.As it develops, capitalism becomes increasingly reactionary, intransigent with regard to popular demands, barbarous, and dangerous parasites. The reason for the economic crisis lies in the fact that the driving force of production and the capitalist economy is profit to be derived using the growth rate of exploitation of workers. In an effort to get the fabulous profits capitalists brought to an extreme increase in production. They produce for profit, and at the same time, undermine the purchasing power of workers. Workers accrues as minuscule when growing the wealth and when it decreases. They more than anyone else at a disadvantage in times of crisis. The national debt is accompanied by the profitability of capital, it is its result. In a crisis, debt is growing. Consequently, the Government's proposals, "New Democracy" and other opposition parties about the debt, are only dangerous for the people of cheating. In this basic question of equal position of all parties (except CNG), in spite of their partial differences. They also agree that it is necessary to support large enterprises. They are unwilling and unable to attack the main goal. "
 General Secretary of the CC said that "current developments in Greece, highlight the general political issue. This question is advantageous if the people the capitalist mode of development, leading to new crises, or should it elect a radically different path, which offers the CPG, the path to a society without crises and exploitation, without unemployment and insecurity. Objectively, the fore the question of overthrowing the power of monopolies, and not just the conservative government. Today the people is vital to force workers, people's power and the people's economy. "
 Concerning the events in our region A. Papariga said: "confirms the position of the CPG that war continues to be a weapon in the hands of the bourgeois political system to overcome the crisis for the benefit of capital, namely, the strongest of its parts."
 General Secretary of the CC presented the scenarios premature elections, and changes in the government. She elaborated on the scenario of "progressive government," which promotes opportunistic structure of the INS / SYRIZA and said: "They say that possibly the progressive control without a fight and overthrow the power of monopolies. What can the government supposedly protecting the interests of the people, without a full collision with the EU and NATO. However, no single government can not pursue policies to benefit the people without having to radically infringe upon the interests of the monopolies and abandon commitments to the imperialist unions.
 She urged people not to be afraid of political instability. It is typical, said: "People should not fear their activity, weakens the power of monopolies. On the contrary, he should be afraid of stable government, that is, one party or the coalition government that uses fear of the people before lack of power to take more severe measures. "
 A. Papariga called "the people to oppose all forms of bourgeois political system, its political structure - a socio-political front anti-monopoly and anti-imperialist forces, which today is, objectively, is moving in the anti-capitalist direction."
 She highlighted the productive forces and the potential development of the country, which will be used the people's power. A detailed proposal to the CPG, which presented the Secretary General of the Party Central Committee, relates to the use of mineral resources, energy sources, the development potential of agriculture and animal husbandry, development, manufacturing, shipping, etc. A prerequisite is the "people's ownership of the concentrated means of production" and "centralized, organized by the scientific planning of the national economy."
 A. Papariga also noted that:
 "The people's power will be able to save considerable resources that are wasted in the framework of bourgeois strategy to ensure competitiveness and monopoly power. For example:

    *
      It eliminates the theft of money, imposed by capitalist property and the financing of monopoly groups devastating public funds.
    *
      Write off the national debt, which is not established workers and has already exceeded 340 billion euros, an increase of 41 billion euros only for 2010
    *
      Abolish the military costs of the NATO plans (for example, on a mission to Kosava, Afghanistan).
    *
      Labour productivity increases through the introduction of new technologies and with the participation of people in the workers' control. Will be achieved cost reductions in labor and raw materials, while increasing production. All this would not be due to the pursuit of competitiveness, as happens in the capitalist economy.
    *
      Workers' control, policies to reduce social inequality and inequality in wages, will serve as a radical restriction of corruption of public officials, as well as limit mismanagement.
    *
      A country from the EU and of all the imperialist unions will create favorable conditions for mutually beneficial international cooperation agreements. Only the people's government can effectively use intra-imperialist contradictions at ensuring public welfare and to effectively protect the sovereign rights of the country.
    *
      Geopolitical position of Greece, especially for the transport of energy and goods between Europe, Asia and Africa, will be a significant advantage in negotiating the people's power, especially in modern conditions of aggravation of inter-imperialist contradictions.
    *
      Workers' control and participation of the people will not only provide legal and institutional manner, but also through the adoption of practical measures, such as ensuring the growth of free-time workers so they can deal with control.

 Work Control will begin with production units, which will elect representatives, having the right to withdraw, and will apply to all industries and regions. In the elected government will include representatives of workers in public production units, as well as members of cooperatives, producers, students, pensioners and workers outside the state-owned enterprises. Even in the supreme organ of power of elected representatives across the country will be withdrawn, but not permanent. Elected officials will not have special privileges and income. "
 Secretary General of the Central Committee of KKE stressed that "the thirst of the people to win, to be his guide. When people want, he can. Bourgeois political power is not omnipotent. Capitalism is not omnipotent. "

(Faults in Translation regretted)

Protest against Firing on Protesters at Jaitapur

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) 

has issued the following statement:

 

 

 

The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly condemns the police firing which has led to death of one person and injuries to several others who were protesting against the Jaitapur nuclear power project in Maharashtra. The local people have been voicing their opposition to the location of the plant in their area and have refused to accept the forcible acquisition of their lands.

 

The Jaitapur power project to be set-up with imported nuclear plants from the French company, Areva, are reactors based on the European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) technology. Such reactors have not been commissioned for operation anywhere else in the world yet. There are questions about the reliability and safety of these new reactors. In the light of the crisis which has developed in some of the nuclear power reactors in Japan, the Polit Bureau calls for an immediate halt to the Jaitapur nuclear project.

 

The Polit Bureau demands that adequate compensation be given to the next of kin of the deceased and those injured in the police firing.