Saturday, January 28, 2012

CPIM 20th Party Congress Draft Political Resolution released


The draft political resolution to be placed for the forthcoming 20th Party congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) was released on Saturday at the Party headquarters in Delhi. The resolution will be  debated within all ranks of the CPI(M). Each and every party member can send amendments to the resolution till March 15th. The draft would be finally adopted at the party congress to be held in Kozhikode from April 4-9.  Com Prakash Karat, General Secretary of CPIM said while releasing the resolution, the central focus now would be on strengthening the party and stepping up its independent role. The resolution focus on building Left unity and project a Left and democratic alternative to counter the Congress and the BJP. CPIM P B Members Com. Sitharam Yechury and Com. K Varadarajan was also present during the ocassion.

For the full text of the Draft Political Resolution

Friday, January 27, 2012

CPI(M) protests against ‘pankti bheda' in Uduppi Krishna temple




Nearly 3,000 members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) from different parts of the State held a public meeting and later took out a rally against “pankti bheda” (different seating arrangements for Brahmins and non-Brahmins during meals) and “jati bheda” (caste discrimination) at the Sri Krishna Math/Temple, here on Thursday.

They took out a rally from the Martyr's Memorial at Ajjarkad. The rally passed through the main streets of the town such as Taluk Office Road, Court Road, Kavi Muddana Road and Head Post Office and reached the S.M.S.P. Sanskrit College, where they were stopped by the police. The police arrested them and later released them.

Earlier, speaking at the public meeting, State secretary of the CPI(M) and former MLA G.V. Srirama Reddy said that practices such as “made snana” (where members of lower castes roll over plantain leaves containing the leftovers of Brahmins after their meals) and “pankti bheda” only showed that caste system existed in society. The statement of Higher Education Minister V.S. Acharya that skin diseases could be cured by “made snana” was the height of stupidity and superstition. “If that is so why should not Brahmins roll over the leaves? Why not close all the dermatology clinics in the State? It is shocking that Dr. Acharya, a trained physician, should be saying such things,” he said.

The statement of Vishwesha Tirtha Swamiji of Pejawar Math that people were participating in “made snana” on their own and it was not forced on them, was baffling. CPI (M) leader G.N. Nagaraj said that “pankti bheda” was being followed to keep the working classes segregated. The Pejawar seer had said that though he was against “pankti bheda”, the orthodox Brahmins were for it and he could not do anything about it. This only reinforced the caste system.

The seer's other statement that he would choose “shastras” (religious texts) over the Constitution was uncalled for, he said.
(Courtesy : The Hindu)

Friday, January 20, 2012

CPIM Kerala State Conference Signature Film released


The Signature film for the upcoming CPIM Kerala State Conference to be held in the capital city of Thiruvananthapuram was released on Thursday. The Film of 40 seconds which depicts the signatures of communist stalwarts is directed by noted award winning film director Lenin Rajendran. The film will be broadcasted in TV channels and Cinema Theatres in Kerala. Inscriptions and signatures of Karl Marx, Engles, Lenin, P Krishna Pillai, EMS, AKG are shown in the film which develops into the spirit of communism. The Film was released by noted filmmaker Shaji N Karun. Reception committee Chairman Com. M Vijayakumar, Convernor Com. Kadakampally Surendran were present on the occassion.


Monday, January 16, 2012

CPIM Kannur District Conferene


CPIM Kannur District Conference was held in the town of Payyannur from 14th to 16th of January 2012. This was the last of the 14 District conferences in Kerala.

The District conference was opened by party State secretary Com. Pinarayi Vijayan. 375 delegates representing 43,433 party members in the district and 42 party district committee members attended the delegates' session of the conference. The party's political and organisational activities and agitations spearheaded by it since the last district conference was evaluated. The delegates paid floral tributes to 14 activists who laid down their life in attacks by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Popular Front of India in four years.


Comrade P. Jayarajan has been re-elected district secretary. A 45-member district committee was elected unanimously by the delegates at the conference. The newly elected committee includes six new members. The new members are P. Balan and P.V. Gopinath, area committee secretaries of Pinarayi and Sreekantapuram respectively; P.V. Krishnan, Centre of Indian Trade Unions; K. Leela, All-India Democratic Women's Association; V. Shivadasan, Students Federation of India; and A.N. Shamseer (Democratic Youth Federation of India).
A red volunteer march was held here in the evening to mark the conclusion of the district conference. Lakhs of party workers thronged the street to reach the public meeting venue.  Party State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, Polit Bureau member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, Central committee members E.P. Jayarajan and P.K. Sreemathi, Kasaragod MP P. Karunakaran led the procession.
Leader of the Opposition Comrade V.S. Achuthanandan inaugurated the public function to mark the end of the three-day meet.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

CPIM Alappuzha District Conference


The three-day CPIM Alappuzha District Conference was held in the town of Alappuzha from 9th to 11th January.  Punnapra-Vayalar veteran Com P.K. Chandranandan hoisted the flag for the conference, after which revolutionary singer P.K. Medhini was felicitated by Com. Pinaryi . Vijayan and Com V S Achuthanandan, CPI(M) Central Committee members T.M. Thomas Isaac, P. Karunakaran, M.A. Baby, E.P. Jayarajan, and M.C. Josephine were among those present at the dias. The delegate session was inaugurated by Com. Pinarayi Vijayan. 

C.B. Chandrababu
343 delegates and 42 district Committee members representing 33,009 members in the district participated in the conference. District Secretary Com. Chandrababu placed the organisational - political report upon which debate was done for 2 days.

On the final day of the conference the delegates elected 43-member district committee and  C.B. Chandrababu to continue as the district secretary. A huge rally of 1 lakh party sympathisers was taken out on the streets of Alappuzha Town. Around 15000 Red volunteers added colour to the rally. The public meeting after the rally which ended at the EMS stadium was inaugurated by Com. V S Achuthanandan.

CPIM Madhyapradesh State Conference


Go to People, Intensify Result Oriented Struggles’

WE all want a strong and capable Lokpal but that this only can help us get rid of the corruption is a meek possibility. The Lokpal bill put forth by the government does not much inspire because the corporate houses, who are the biggest source of corruption, have been kept out of its purview. So said Prakash Karat at the 13th state conference of the CPI(M) in Madhya Pradesh, also stressing that the policies of the UPA-2 government are responsible for the excruciating price rises. In his address, he also referred to a host of other burning issues including the spate of farmers’ suicides in the country. 

Prakash Karat, general secretary of the CPI(M), was in Rewa for inauguration of the three day state conference of the party at Yamuna Prasad Shastri Nagar from  December 26 to 28. He was addressing a public meeting at Padmadher Park in the city, which was preceded by a long and disciplined procession of party members and supporters. He said the CPI(M) is against the destructive policies of liberalisation which are leading to widespread corruption, increasing poverty and causing suicides.  He said that wherever a government of the BJP exists, it is mired in corruption, as in Karnataka, in Chhattisgarh or MP. In Karnataka, the BJP CM went to jail on charges of corruption. Just like the BJP, corruption is prevalent in Congress governments also. He said the CPI(M) and the Left supported the UPA-1 government in order to prevent the communal forces from staging a comeback to power, but the Left had to withdraw support due to the wrong and anti-people policies of the government which also bowed down before the US diktat and decided to enter a pact on atomic deal.

Prakash Karat also flayed the government’s adamant attitude on allowing FDI in retail trade that would deprive crores of people of their daily bread. Referring to the policies of the central government under the NDA and UPA, he said there is no difference between the Congress and the BJP as both are pro-corporate and pro-imperialist.

CPI(M) state secretary Badal Saroj also addressed the meeting, debunking the prejudiced, bankrupt and communal policies of the present state government and terming it as the most corrupt government ever in Madhya Pradesh. He described the way the lands of farmers from Dambhora to Lilji were being confiscated. Landless farmers and tribals are being displaced.  He said the CPI(M) would continue to fight in order to save the land of the people.

The public meeting was also addressed by Ram Narayan Kurariya, Pramod Pradhan, Sandhya Shaily and the CPI(M)’s Rewa district secretary Girijesh Singh Senger.  The attendance in public meeting was a subject of discussion in the city where people realised that the Shastri era of struggles is back again.


INAUGURAL SESSION
While inaugurating the 13th state conference of the CPI(M), Prakash Karat explained in detail the present international situation. He said it is clear from the agitation which started in the USA and spread over to 160 countries, that capitalism is unable to overcome its crisis. Those very people who were, at the fall of the USSR 20 years ago, saying that there was no alternative to capitalism, are today feeling the need of a new system which is against globalisation, liberalisation, privatisation policies. In the USA, Wall Street was gheraoed against the loot being perpetrated by the corporate world, while 13 out of 23 countries of Latin America today have governments which chose alternative paths of development other than the capitalist path. On the other hand, the US and other capitalist countries are planning to capture oil and other natural resources of other countries and attacking them for the purpose. After Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, now Iran is their target.

Describing the changed political scenario in India, the CPI(M) general secretary said the ruling classes are now targeting the Left and 417 comrades gave their life in West Bengal alone since Lok Sabha elections. He also made suggestions to develop work in the Hindi speaking states including Madhya Pradesh. 

A five member presidium comprising Ashok Tiwari, Budhsen Singh Gond, Ram Vilas Goswami, P N Mahore and Sandhya Shaily conducted the proceedings of the conference.

POLITICAL
REPORT
State secretariat member Jasbinder Singh presented the political report detailing the experience of struggles and its implementation.  The 55 page report dealt with the situation in MP in detail, referring to numerous burning issues after having briefed the international and national situation. The report dwelt on the ideological and psychological effects of liberalisation policies on a section of the working class and middle class, evaluated the activities of the NGOs and other political parties in the state and suggested five main tasks. On behalf of their respective delegations, 39 delegates joined in the discussion on this report.

The unanimously accepted report gave a call for result oriented struggles on local issues, a continuous political campaign and retrieval of mass organisations out of the rut of routinism in order to make them pro-struggle.

State secretary Badal Saroj placed a 41 page organisational report.  It dealt with class and mass organisations, their membership, the condition of branch functioning, review of functioning of the district and state committees and of the state centre, state of democratic centralism, priority sector and our experiences of education and ideological work, wholetimer and cadre policy, parliamentarism and chunavbaji, functioning of elected representatives and communist life style etc, in the light of the rectification document. The report took stock of work in the direction of progressive values and reform movements.  It also discussed the fund collection. As many as 36 delegates took part in the discussion on this report.

Giving the reason behind the tough self-critical reports placed in the conference, the state secretary said it was the part of an attempt to know why we could not use the opportunities that came to us. It was not a small thing if a small party emerged as the leader of the anti-displacement struggle, a leader of tribal agitations, a champion of workers’ unity and of women’s issues, if it took initiatives on the youth front. Many comrades kept the red flag flying high even in conditions of political alienation and heavy suppression, and took the party to so far untouched heights. It is clear that by changing our own functioning qualitatively, we may convert the people’s goodwill into a well organised political base in a short period, which is the need of hour.

Addressing the conference, CPI(M) Central Secretariat member Neelotpal Basu said Maoism has become a misleading noun nowadays. Maoists are working as tools in the hands of the bourgeoisie and imperialists against the organised Left. In Bengal, they are massacring the CPI(M) activists to the glee of the Congress, TMC and other anti-Left groups while home ministries in Delhi and Kolkata are sitting with eyes closed. The Hindi speaking areas and other areas must powerfully protest against this.

The 13th state conference of the CPI(M) concluded with the call to go to the people and intensify result oriented struggles on people’s issues. Re-elected state secretary Badal Saroj reiterated in his concluding speech that today’s conditions of the people’s anger against hunger, poverty and unemployment, their growing animosity towards the Congress, BJP and other bourgeois landlord parties and the worldwide developments which confirmed the continuing relevance of Marxism are favourable factors for the growth of the party and the mass organisations led by it. He said we must use it for development of the struggle on the people’s issues in the state.

The conference elected a 30-member state committee including 6 women. In its turn, the new state committee re-elected Badal Saraj as secretary with 9 other secretariat members. The conference also elected delegates to the all-India party congress.

On behalf of new state committee, Badal Saroj declared that in connection with the February 28 strike of central trade unions, a political campaign against the disastrous policies would be launched. There would also be statewide agitations on issues like displacement, hunger, health, price rise, atrocities against women, dalit, minority and tribal people, and on demands related to electricity, water and roads. He urged the party members and supporters to develop result oriented agitations on local issues as well.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

CPIM Kannyakumari District Conference



The 20th Kanyakumari district conference of Communist Party of India (Marxist) was held at Thuckalay from 5th to 8th January. The conference was inaugurated by CPIM CC Member Com U Vasuki.

The flag brought from Kollencode was received by District committee member K. Madhavan. Flag rope brought from Boothapandi was received by District Secretariat member M. Annadurai. The flag pole brought from Kollencode was received by District Secretariat member V.Ponnusamy. The district secretary Com. Murugesan, former member of Lok Sabha A.V.Bellarmine and others were participated in the function held in front of Thuckalay bus stand. The senior district committee member Com. Krishnankutty, hoisted the conference flag. The torch (jothi) in memory of former M.L.A. Hemachandaran from Mathur, G.S.Mani from Vettunthi near Marthandam, Divakaran of Cherukol and Perumal of Tamaraikulam were brought to the conference venue at Thuckalay.

Various resolutions were passedduring the conference. Com Murugesan was re elected as the District Secretary. on the concluding day a mass rally was organised in which around 20000 people participated. Red Volunteers march through the streets. Com. U Vasuki inaugurated the public rally.

Monday, January 9, 2012

CPIM Palakkad District Conference

The Palakkad district conference of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) was held at Vadakkenchery, from January 6 to 8. The conference was inaugurated by party State secretary Com. Pinarayi Vijayan

Central Committee members Comrades V.S. Achuthanandan. P. Karunakaran, M.A. Baby, A. Vijayaraghavan, P.K. Sreemathy, and party State secretariat members T. Sivadasa Menon, A.K. Balan, and V.V. Dakshinamurthy were present during the conference. The conference was attended by 366 delegates, including 43 district committee members.

Com. C.K. Rajendran was elected as the new district secretary unanimously. 41 member district committe was also elected by the conference.

The conference concluded with a red volunteer march and a public rally. The meeting was inaugurated by Com. V S Achuthanandan.

CPI(M) Ernakulam District Conference


The three-day district conference of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) was held from 5th January to 9th January in the town of North Paravoor. The conference was inaugurated by party P B Member Com. Kodiyeri Balakrishnan . Party CC members Comrades Paloli Mohammed Kutty, P.K.Gurudasan, T.M Thomas Isaac, Vaikom Viswom took part in the event.

375 delegates, representing different area committees in the district participated in the deliberations and all the delegates unanimously accepted the report presented by the district secretary. During the conference, the party unit passed about 10 resolutions including those calling for limiting the water level at Mullaperiyar reservoir and asking the State Government to desist from the move to sideline the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation from implementing the proposed Kochi metro rail project.

The Conference unanimously elected Com. M.V. Govindan as district secretary and formed a 43-member district committee.


A massive rally was held in the town in which tens of thousands of party workers and 10000 Red Volunteers marched through the street. The rally was accompanied by bands, floats and cultural troupes. The rally concluded at the municipal recreation ground where CPI (M) Polit Bureau member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan received the red-salute from volunteers. This was followed by a public meeting presided over by the newly elected district secretary M.V. Govindan. M.C.Josephine, S.Sarma, MLA and N.A. Ali were among those spoke in the meeting.

Sunday, January 8, 2012

CPIM Kurnool District Conference

 CPIM Kurnool District Conference was held from 4th Decemeber to 6th December in the town of Adoni. 

A colourful rally marked the inauguration of the district conference at the Municipal Grounds  on Wednesday. More than 2,000 volunteers took part in the rally which passed on the streets of the town for two and half hours. Troupes of Banjara, Beerappa drums and other artistes walked ahead of the rally adding glitter to the programme. The rally culminated into a meeting at Municipal Grounds where party Central secretariat member Com V.V. Srinivasa Rao addressed the gathering. Party leaders Com. P Madhu. Com M.A.Gafoor, Com T. Shadrak, Ramanjaneyulu,Com. K. Prabhakar Reddy and others spoke.

Later the Delegate session was inaugurated by Com.  Srinivasa Rao. K. Prabhakar Reddy was named the new secretary Kurnool district unit of CPI (M) at the three-day conference of the party that concluded on Friday. District Secretriate with Comrades T. Shadrak, Ramanjaneyulu B., T. Ramesh Kumar, Gouse Desai, P. Rajasekhar and P. S. Radhakrishna was also formed.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

CPIM Madurai Urban District Conference


CPIM Central Committee member Com. T K Rangarajan Inaugurated the 20the Madurai Urban District conference which was held from 2nd January to 4th January.  The Delegate session was held in a hall named after com. P Mohan and Com. Muniyandi.

Com. P Vikraman
Com. B. Vikraman has been unanimously elected secretary of Madurai urban district unit of Communist Party of India (Marxist) for the second term on Monday. The party district conference also elected a 41-member new district committee. District secreteriate including MLA R. Annadurai, former MLA N. Nanmaran, R. Jothiram and Corporation Councillor M. Chellam, P Nazer, R Vijayarajan, R Lenin, V Pichai, A Pichaimani, M Sellam, P Radha, E M Joseph was also elected. 13 Delegates including 3 women were elected to participate in the state conference to be held at Nagapattinam ahead of the 20th Party Congress. 


The conference demanded the police to take steps to help the Dalits of Uthapuram to use the common pathway without any interference. The district administration should construct a bus shelter in the village and also clear the sewerage that was draining into the Dalit's residential area. The CPI (M) conference also called upon the Southern Railways to develop Royapuram station as the third terminal after Central and Egmore. Royapuram has 72 acres of land and this could be sufficient even to construct a railway station of international standards.

Veteran Communist leader and CPIM Control Commission Chairman Com N. Sankaraiah inaugurated the public meeting on Tuesday. CPIM CC Member Com. T K Rangarajan also spoke on the occasion.

CPIM Thrissur District Conference


Communist Party of India (Marxist) Polit Bureau member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan inaugurated the delegate session of a three-day Thrissur district conference which was held from 2nd Janauary to 4th January 2012. Comrades P.R. Rajan, P K. Biju, MPs; K. Radhakrishnan, Babu M. Palissery, B. D. Devassy, C. Ravindranath, MLAs; party leaders E. P. Jayarajan, A. K. Balan, Paloli Mohammed Kutty, T. Sivadasa Menon, K. K. Mamakutty, district secretary A. C. Moideen, reception committee chairman Baby John, convener M. M. Varghese, Lonappan Nambadan and C. P. Narayanan were present.

Conference reception committee chairman Baby John hoisted the party flag at the venue. P.R. Rajan, MP, lit a ceremonial torch. Party district secretary A.C. Moideen inaugurated an exhibition on history.

 370 delegates, including 40 district committee members were present in the delegate session representing 32,018 members in the district. Com. A C Moideen placed the Organisational and Political report for discussions in the conference

A.C. Moideen will continue as CPI(M) district secretary. He was named secretary in March after the party decided to field outgoing district secretary Baby John in Manalur in the Assembly elections. The district conference also elected a 41-member district committee.

Addressing a press conference, Mr. Moideen said that a study programme would be conducted among the party leadership to develop a master plan for the district's development. The district conference adopted 19 resolutions about development issues and the need for strengthening efforts to solve people's problems.


A mass rally was organised on the third day of the conference. More than one lakh people participated in the rally organised in the city. The rally converged at the famous Thekinkad Maidanam, where the Thrissur pooram is held.  25000 Red Volunteers marched through the city as a show of strength. CPIM PB member Com. Kodiyeri Balakrishnan was given a Gaurd of Honour by the red volunteers. Eventually Thrissur city turned into a red sea. The Public meeting was inaugurated by Com. Kodiyeri Balakrishnan.

CPI(M) Kollam district Conference


The three-day district conference of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) was held from 2nd January to 4th January. The conference was inaugurated by party State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan at the Municipal Town Hall. Party CC Members Com.  V.S. Achuthanandan, P.K. Gurudaan, M.A. Baby, T.M. Thomas Isaac, M.C. Josephine, Vaikom Vishwan, and state secreteriate members Com M.V. Govindan and Anathalavattam Anandan attended the conference. 

356 delegates representing the 34,920 members in the district took part in the district conference. The party has 2,490 branch committees 136 Local committees and  17 area committees.

Procedures for the district conference began in September, 2011, with local committee conferences. All the 136 local committee conferences were completed in November. This was followed by the area committee conferences. Seminars on contemporary topics were conducted at all taluks in the district as a prelude to the district conference. The party flag hoisted at the conference venue is being brought from the tomb of M.A. Ashraf at Anchal Thadikkad who attained martyrdom for the party. The flag hoisted at the public meeting venue will be brought from the Sooranad Martyrs Memorial.

District secretary of the party Com K. Rajagopal presented the Organisational and political report. Com Rajagopal was reelected the district secretary. The conference also constituted 43-member district committee with 7 new faces.

The red volunteer march in connection with the conference will began from the Asramam Maidan at 3 p.m. on Wednesday. More than 10,000 red volunteers and close to one lakh party members, supporters and sympathisers took part in the march. Com. V S Achuthanandan inaugurated the public meeting which follows.

Strengthen Party to Meet the Developing Objective Conditions of Peoples' Movements : Call at Party Conferences in West Bengal

 
'Objective conditions of building peoples' movements are budding in West Bengal. The task is to build up the subjective factor by strengthening Party's relationship with the people'. This was the main thrust of district conferences of CPI(M) in West Bengal.

Till the first week of January, 2012, conferences in 11districts out of 19 have been concluded. The first was in South Dinajpur, followed by Darjeeling, North Dinajpur, Maldaha, Nadia, Murshidabad, Burdwan, Bankura, Birbhum, Purulia and Kolkata. These conferences, being held in a new political situation, were exercises in detailed introspection of Party's activities, its relationship with the people, the mistakes and deficiencies in implementing political programme. Everywhere the self critical attitude prevailed and urgent need to reorient Party's activities according to the needs of the situation was emphasized. At the same time, the experiences of seven months of TMC Government were summarized. It was noted that the initial euphoria of "change" was gradually giving in to discontent and dissatisfaction among the people. This was particularly evident in rural areas where the peasantry was facing serious problem of distress sale of major crops like paddy, jute and potato. A feeling of disgruntlement was also evident in educational institutions where whims of the ruling party have created a reign of anarchy. The working people were facing hardship from policies of the new Government. The necessity to strengthen bond with people to give voice to these displeasures was the call of the day.

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee underlined the task while inaugurating the Kolkata district conference. He said, 'the objective conditions of a change in adverse situation is gradually coming into fore in international and national scenario. The votaries of capitalism and market economy are now in deep trouble. After the demise of USSR, it was told that capitalism had no alternative. But now that same capitalism is reeling under crisis. UPA Government, pursuing neo liberal policies has contributed in aggravating the problems of poverty, hunger and illiteracy. It has also invited new type of corruption. The inequality is accentuating thereby creating conditions for intensification of contradictions. UPA Government will surely become alienated from the people". Explaining the situation in West Bengal Bhattacharjee said, "Peoples' experience in last seven months has led them gradually to the path of protest in different spheres. It is true that there was a severe shift of political balance of forces in the state. A large section of people has shifted from the camp of the Lefts. The time has come when the Lefts have to win over the people again. The subjective condition of organizing bigger protests is to build up the Party, rectifying the mistakes. The Communist Party must build itself in the manner in which people want to see them. It will only be possible if the Party workers work incessantly among the people and raise their political consciousness.''

Biman Basu, while intervening in the discussion in Purulia and Bankura, has emphasized the need to revitalize Party organizations at all levels with the aim of mobilizing people in broader movement. "Thousands of Party workers have been attacked, rendered homeless and more than 50 have been killed in last seven months, but they have not left the Party", asserted Basu.

Peasants Display Anger Through Strike in West Bengal


In the backdrop of worsening plight of peasants in West Bengal, with an apathetic Government for last seven months, rural Bengal witnessed a massive protest in the form of an agriculture strike on 4th January. In the first statewide action of this kind, four Left peasant organisations called for stoppage of all agricultural activities and functioning of village panchayats across the State. The peasants, facing severe crisis due to declining prices of their produces, responded to the call with enthusiasm. All activities, relating to agriculture virtually came to standstill in 18 districts. The agricultural workers, whose job is already threatened, also joined in force. Instead of farming, rural Bengal saw rallies, blockades and demonstrations throughout Wednesday.

Last seven months of “change” in West Bengal have brought disastrous consequences for the peasants. The agricultural production witnessed a huge jump during Left Front Government and along with the support from the State Government and panchayats the lives of the farmers and share croppers brightened. All those successes have been seriously jeopardized by wrong policies and inaction by the TMC Government. The peasants, burdened under price rise and black marketing of fertilizers and other inputs failed to get remunerative prices of their products. Paddy, jute and potato growers were hit hardest. A spate of farmers’ suicides has taken place in agriculturally rich districts like Burdwan. The peasants’ discontent has been expressed through the unprecedented strike in rural areas.

AIKS (Harekrishna Konar Bhaban) state president Madan Ghosh has termed the success of the strike ‘beyond expectation’. The peasants’ protest has come also in the backdrop of reign of terror in many districts and a silent terror in almost every part of the state. The peasants defied the fear and marched in rallies in places. CITU had called upon the rural unorganized working people to join the peasants in strike. In many districts CITU brought out rallies in support of the strike.

Ghosh warned that the peasants would be forced to continue struggles if the State Government failed in their duties. “The Centre has withdrawn subsidy on fertiliser. They are not considering the plight of the farmers while determining the support price for paddy and other agricultural products. In our state more than 12 farmers have committed suicide as they failed to repay the loans they had obtained from money lenders at higher rate of interests. The State Government is not procuring paddy directly from the farmers by paying them the support price fixed by the Centre. We cannot allow the State Government to ignore the farmers and we will support the General strike called by trade unions on February 28," Ghosh said on Wednesday.

He also came down heavily on the West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee for her Government's failure to procure paddy from the farmers by giving them the minimum support price fixed up by the Centre. "The State Government has procured just 2 lakh metric tonnes of rice against their target of collecting 20 lakh metric tonnes. Naturally, the farmers are in distress and not in a position to sell their product. Never in the Left Front regime, had such a pathetic situation occurred in our state," complained Ghosh.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

CPI - CPIM announces candidates for Punjab elections

CPIM State Secretary Com. Charan Singh Vridhi and State committe member (Amritasar Central Candidate ) Com. Vijay Mishra during the announcement of candidates

In the forthcoming elections to the Punjab Assembly, CPI, CPI(M) and the People's Party of Punjab led by Manpreet Singh Badal and the Akali Dal (Longowal) led by Surjit Singh Barnala have formed a front. The CPI is fighting 18 seats and CPIM will be contesting 9 seats in Punjab out of the 140 seats.
The first list of 41 candidates announced by morcha chairman and People's Party of Punjab (PPP) chief Manpreet Singh Badal outside Jallianwala Bagh Martyrs memorial. Present on the occasion were CPI central executive committee member Dr Joginder Dayal and state secretariat member Harbhajan Singh, CPM state secretary Charan Singh Virdi and SAD (Longowal) Majha zone convener Pradeep Singh Walia.

CPIM Candidates and Constituency : Raghunath Singh (Garhshankar) Vijay Mishra (Amritsar central) Davinderjit Dhillon (Patti) Gurdial Singh Dhar (Anandpur Sahib) and Parshotam Lal Bilga (Phillaur) (SC).

CPI candidates and Constituency: Amarjit Singh Ansal (Amritsar west) Baldev Singh (Amritsar east) Balwinder Singh (Majitha) Lovleen Kaur Chahal (Sujjanpur) Subash Kaire (Dinanagar) (reserved).

Left parties - UKD(P) forms alliance in Uttarakand polls



CPIM, CPI and The Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (Panwar) headed by Trivendra Singh Panwar , announced the formation of a joint regional front for contesting the coming Assembly elections. It also released its first list of 12 candidates on Monday.

Addressing the media at a joint Press conference in Dehradun, Panwar said that the party had decided to join forces with the Left parties in order to strengthen its chances of preventing the Congress and the BJP from forming the next State Government. Announcing the formation of a joint regional front in the presence of CPI(M) State secretary Vijay Rawat and CPI National Council member Samar Bhandari, Panwar said that the Congress and the BJP failed to facilitate development and had instead caused deterioration of Uttarakhand during the 11 years since it was formed. The UKD-P and Left parties will now focus their efforts on preventing either of these two national parties from forming the next Government in Uttarakhand, Panwar said.

A first list of 17 candidates were announce during the function of which 13 seats are allocated to UKD (P) and the rest 4 seats are allocated to left parties. Com. Dinesh will contest from Gangothri and Com Anant Sing rana will contest from Badrinath as candidates of CPI. Com. Siva prasad will contest from Sahaspur constituency and Com. Rajpal will contest from sharali as candidates of CPIM.