Wednesday, January 28, 2015

CPI (M) Andaman & Nicobar State Conference

THE ninth state conference of the CPI(M), Andaman and Nicobar unit held in Port Blair on January 4, has decided to re-activate the Party in the islands and intensify the fight against the anti-people policies of the BJP-led government at the centre. The conference was held at the Shaheed Bhavan, the CPI(M) state committee office, in Port Blair. The conference passed a resolution demanding establishment of a legislative assembly for the Andaman and Nicobar islands in order to fulfill the aspirations of the islanders.

The conference began with the hoisting of the Party flag by Hannan Mollah, CPI(M) central secretariat member and former MP, at the venue and thereafter, delegates and observers paid floral tributes at the martyrs column. D Laxman Rao, chairman of the reception committee, welcomed the participants to the conference while Tapan Bepari moved condolence resolutions. A three-member presidium comprising Tapan Bepari, D Hemlata and Ramjeeban Sarkar conducted the delegate session.
Hannan Mollah, after inaugurating the delegate session, dealt at length the prevailing situation in the country and said that the BJP-led central government is pursuing the same anti-people policies of the erstwhile Congress-led government. In addition, the Sangh Parivar is trying to divide the country on communal lines. People belonging to minority communities are being targeted by the Sangh Parivar outfits.

Mollah said the problems of the people remain unresolved as the Narendra Modi government is busy appeasing the corporate sector and communal forces. Referring to the widening inequalities between the rich and the poor, he said more and more concessions are being given to the corporate houses while the condition of the poor is deteriorating day-by-day. Referring to the spurt in farmer suicides in the country, Mollah said that the BJP government has forgotten the promises of remunerative prices of farm produces and other benefits given to the farmers during the Lok Sabha elections campaign.  

K G Das, secretary of CPI(M) state organising committee, presented the report  on the working of the Party in the Andaman and Nicobar islands for the last three years.  He briefly explained the political situation in the union territory and pointed out the unprincipled stand adopted by certain non-Congress and non-BJP parties in the islands which led to the candidates of all the political parties contesting separately during the last Lok Sabha elections. The Party’s failure to mobilise various sections of the people in the islands also reflected in the report.

Fifty-nine delegates and observers from various parts of the union territory participated in the discussion on the report. The conference adopted 29 resolutions on various issues concerning the islanders. Through a resolution, the conference also demanded establishment of a legislative assembly for the Andaman and Nicobar Islands on the Puducherry model.

The venue of the conference was named after veteran CPI(M) leader late Comrade Samar Mukherjee, who was a frequent visitor to the islands while  he was a Member of Parliament and took up various issues of the islands on the floor of the parliament.  

The conference elected a 16-member state organising committee with D Laxman Rao as secretary.  A six-member state secretariat comprising D Laxman Rao, K G Das, Tapan Bepari, B Chandrachoodan, Dr Gouranga Majhi and  Ramjeeban Sarkar was also elected in the conference.  K G Das was elected as the delegate for the 21st Party Congress.

On conclusion of the conference, a public meeting was held at Delanipur Park which was addressed by Hannan Mollah and all the six state secretariat members. Explaining the resolutions adopted in the conference, Das, the outgoing secretary, told the gathering that the Party has decided to mobilise the people on the issues of youth, students, workers and farmers.

Obama Visit: India, USA’s Subordinate Ally

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:
 
The outcome of the visit of President Obama has resulted in the Modi government surrendering on some of the vital interests of the country both, strategic and economic, to US pressures.
 
The "agreement" on the nuclear liability issue sharply indicates this surrender. The Civil Nuclear Liability Act passed by Indian parliament in 2010 was meant to protect the right to Indian citizens to due compensation and relief in the event of a nuclear accident. The liability of the supplier of nuclear reactors and equipment was specifically introduced given the dismal experience of the victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy. The Modi government in order to meet the persistent US demand to nullify such clauses in the law has chosen to circumvent them. By creating an insurance pool by Indian public sector insurance companies and financial contribution of Indian government together amounting to Rs 1500 crore, effectively, the supplier's liability has been transferred entirely onto India and its taxpayers.
 
Further, to circumvent Sec 46 of the Act wherein victims of a nuclear accident can sue for damages against the operator or supplier, the Modi government has promised to issue a "memorandum of law" to dilute the intent of this clause, which in itself is a dubious step legally. All this is being done to fulfill the promise made by the UPA government to import 10,000 mw of nuclear reactors from the US as a quid pro quo for the nuclear deal.
 
The Obama visit has also led to a Joint Strategic Vision on the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean region. This statement aligns India to the US strategic pivot to Asia. Modi's Act East policy is now dovetailed to the US strategy to contain China as seen in the references to the South China Sea and the joint statement’s reference to the tripartite alliance between US, Japan and India.
 
This has to be seen along with the announcement of the renewed Defence Framework Agreement for the next ten years. The details of this renewed Agreement have not yet been made public. There are genuine apprehensions that this pact would bind India militarily closer to the US to the detriment of our national sovereignty and strategic autonomy.
 
In major areas, India has agreed to further open up to US investments for profit maximization. India is now committed to buy US products for nuclear energy. Military equipment and “greener technologies” for limiting carbon emissions to combat climate change. Further the $ 4 billion pledge by President Obama consists largely of loans to buy US products. Thus instead of “Make in India”, the Modi government is promoting “Made in USA”.
 
The Modi government has not succeeded in pressing and accomplishing any gains on the issues concerning our bilateral relations. The US has not acknowledged India's patents and intellectual property regime, the food security policy, or, issuance of visas for Indian professionals and personnel.
 
In sum, the Modi government has set the course for a subordinate relationship with the United States.

The strengthening of the Communist Party of Greece marks a tendency for forces to rally around it again

The strengthening of the KKE marks a tendency for forces to rally around it again

  • In the elections on the 25th of January, the KKE received 5.5% of the vote, an increase of 1% (+ 60,000 votes) in comparison to the parliamentary elections of 2012, marking a positive trend οf forces to rally around the KKE again, a trend that had also been witnessed in the EU parliamentary elections, the regional and local elections, in the KKE’s initiatives in the labour movement.
  • The KKE achieved third place in 11 electoral regions: 2nd region of Piraeus, Samos, Lesvos, Lefkada, Zakynthos, Kephalonia, Kerkyra, Larisa, Trikala, Prebeza, Boiotia.
  • The KKE had 15 MPs elected ( it had 12)
  • The GS of the CC of the KKE, Dimitris Koutsoumpas, in his statement saluted the thousands of our country’s workers and young people that responded to the KKE’s appeal and contributed today to its strengthening, confirming the positive trend for the rallying of forces around the party again. In particular, he saluted those who voted for the KKE for the first time, because they appreciated its firmness, consistency and selflessness.
  • The election results reflect the great discontent and anger of the people against ND and PASOK, the parties that plunged the people into poverty and unemployment during the economic crisis. They express to a great extent the false hope that the new government of SYRIZA might follow a political line in favour of the people. The formation of a government of SYRIZA –either on its own or in a coalition government- will follow the beaten track:  the EU one way street, the tactics of limited demands, retreat and compromise, the commitments to big capital, monopolies, the EU and NATO.
  • It is negative that a Nazi party maintains a high percentage amongst the electorate.

Below you can find a  table with the complete results and the full statement of the GS of the CC of the KKE :

 

STATEMENT OF THE GS OF THE CC OF THE Communist Party of Greece Com. DIMITRIS KOUTSOUMPAS ON THE ELECTION RESULTS OF 25th JANUARY 2015

First of all, we would like to salute the thousands of working people in our country, the young people that responded to the appeal of the KKE and contributed to its strengthening today, confirming the positive tendency of forces to rally again around the KKE, the tendency to regain votes. This tendency appeared last year, in the EU parliamentary elections, the regional and municipal elections and continued in all the various struggles of the people, in the labour, trade union and wider people’s movement. 

In particular we would like to salute the people who voted for the KKE for the first time, because they appreciated its firmness, consistency and selflessness. 

\As a whole, the election results reflect the great discontent and anger of the people against ND and PASOK, the parties that plunged the people into poverty and unemployment during the economic crisis. 

Of course they express to a great extent the false hope that the new government of SYRIZA  might follow a political line in favour of the people. 

Based on the official statements and positions of SYRIZA before and during the election campaign, the KKE has assessed that the new composition of the Parliament and the formation of a government of SYRIZA –either on its own or in a coalition government- will follow the beaten track:  the EU one way street, the commitments to big capital, monopolies, the EU and NATO with the negative implications for our people and the country. Once again the people will pay the price for these choices. 

We consider particular negative the fact that a Nazi party, a party with specific criminal murderous activity, a party that was formed by the mechanisms of the system, a party that is clearly against the interests of the people, has received again a significant percentage of the electorate’s votes. 

As whole, we assess that the line of counterattack and rupture with the capitalist path of development, the EU and against the policies that support this path through assimilation and passivity must be strengthened among the people and the movement.  

 The KKE will increase its efforts and initiatives regarding the acute problems of the workers and the people, with our proposals for the relief of the unemployed, the families fro the popular strata, the self-employed, the farmers and the students. 

It will increase its efforts for the regroupment of the labour and people’s movement, the construction of the people’s alliance in order for the people to realize their hopes and expectations and free themselves for the yoke of the monopolies. 

We will fight both inside and outside the parliament, with the strength that the people gave to our party so as to reveal the plans that are being concocted against the people. 
We will fight dynamically as the militant workers’-people’s opposition, as the organizer and the driving force of the workers’ struggle and the people’s alliance for the survival of the people and also for the prospect of a radical overthrow. 

We wish strength to all of you. We continue our struggle! Thank you.