A Thunderbolt from the sky..A thunderbolt that could make change.A Thunderbolt that will tear apart the black clouds of imperialism and communalism that had covered India.Yes change is inevitable..Change will Come..
IN the results of the elections to the 81 municipal bodies across the state of West Bengal held on May 30, 2010, the Left Front has won in only 18 municipalities.The Trinamul Congress has won 26, the Congress 7, the anti-Left alliance 4, while 23 are hung, 3 have resulted in a tie.In whose favour these would be resolved will only be known in the future.
In the finest traditions of democratic practice, the Left Front led by the CPI(M) has accepted the people’s verdict. The Left Front in West Bengal has declared that it shall make a proper assessment and review of these results to draw correct lessons for the future.
There has been a massive media hype that these elections are a `semi-final’ for the so-called `final’ assembly elections in May, 2011. The politically conscious electorate in Bengal is discerning in the sense that it treats every election on the basis of its objective. The Lok Sabha elections were to determine the government at the centre. The elections to the state assembly are to determine the government in the state. Likewise, the municipal and panchayat elections have their own objectives. Each election is, therefore, a different ballgame.
The Trinamul Congress has mounted a shrill campaign for the dismissal of the duly-elected state government and the holding of early elections.This is not only patently undemocratic but completely irrational. The total number of people eligible to vote in these municipal elections was 85,33,000 out of a total electorate in the state of 5,24,32,000, ie, only 17 per cent of the total electorate.This makes up for less than 40 seats in an assembly of 294. The rest of the 83 per cent constitutes the rural Bengal electorate or more than 250 assembly seats, which has predominantly determined the character of the government in the state in the past. Hence, it will be fallacious to conclude that the results of these municipal elections are a reflection of the state’s electorate as a whole.
Nevertheless, it is a reflection of urban Bengal. To that extent, the Left Front is committed to undertake a serious introspection of these results. During the Lok Sabha polls in 2009, which saw a serious erosion in the Left vote, the Left Front had a lead in 525 of the 1766 municipal wards in the state or 29.73 per cent.In these elections, the Left Front has won 603 out of 1791 municipal wards or 33.67 per cent.Hence, the situation now shows, at best, a marginal improvement in the performance of the Left Front.
Clearly, therefore, the setback suffered in the Lok Sabha elections has not been reversed but the downslide appears to have been partially arrested.
In the 2005 elections to the municipal bodies, the Left Front had won an unprecedented victory bagging 50 out of the 81 municipal bodies. In the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, however, it had led in only 19.In these elections, it has won in only 18. However, as noted earlier, the leadership of 26 municipal bodies will only be decided later.The main reverses to the Left Front have come from Kolkata and its adjoining urban areas. North 24 Parganas district has 21 municipal bodies while Hooghly district has 12.In 2005, the Left Front had won 26 of these 33 municipalities. This time Left Front has won only in 4 with a tie in 2 municipalities. This is a serious matter that needs to be properly reviewed in order to draw the correct lessons and apply the needed correctives. The CPI(M) and the Left Front are committed to undertake this task in right earnest.
Sitaram Yechury, Polit Bureau member of CPI(M) and Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha has written to the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh asking the government to take urgent measures to recover the huge loss suffered by the country’s exchequer due to the manner in which 2G spectrum was sold. He further asked for action against the malafide intensions of the Minister and the Ministry. The following is the full text of the letter.
Dear Shri Manmohan Singhji,
In your recent interaction with the media, you have discussed the 2G spectrum case and the charges against Shri Raja, the Minister for IT&T. In this context, I would like to draw your attention to my earlier letters dated February 29, 2008 and November 18, 2008 on the spectrum issue, where I had identified the following three beneficiaries of undervaluing the 2G spectrum:
1.The GSM operators sitting on extra spectrum in excess of 6.2 MHz
2.CDMA operators being allowed GSM license and 2G spectrum at 2001 prices
3.New operators being allowed license on a first come first served basis, again at 2001 prices
As I will show, the acts of the Minister in the spectrum allocation have resulted in a huge loss to the exchequer. I will also bring out the legal and procedural violations that Shri Raja has committed, all with the intent to favour certain parties in the above process.
Loss to the Exchequer and its Recovery
The recent 3G auction has established the market price of spectrum, which is a scarce national resource. From this price, it is clear that all three elements identified above have resulted in huge losses for the exchequer. If we use the recent 3G auction price to benchmark the spectrum price for 2G as TRAI has recently suggested, the loss is of the order of a whopping Rs. 190,000 crore.
Loss due to 122 licenses for new entrants in 2008: Rs. 124,000 crore
Loss due to cross-over licenses permitted to CDMA operators (Dual Technology License): Rs. 36,000 crore
Loss due to excess spectrum occupied by the GSM operators beyond 6.2 MHz: Rs. 30000 crore
Total Loss: Rs.190,000 crore
The TRAI has opined recently that GSM operators who hold spectrum in excess of the original spectrum bundled with the license should be made to pay market based prices retrospectively as benchmarked by the 3G auction prices. This is a welcome step and should indeed serve as the basis for recovering the loss to the exchequer. The same principle should be extended for the new entrants as well as the CDMA operators for the crossover license. They should also be made to pay the market value of the spectrum as benchmarked by the 3G auction.
The argument given by the Minister that 2G license/spectrum was given cheap – Rs. 1650 crore for an all India license covering 22 circles – in order to keep the prices to the consumer low does not hold water. The Ministry illegally modified the M&A guidelines and rollout obligations allowing for sale of equity. This sale of equity in effect is equivalent to a private re-sale of the license. This means that though the national exchequer did not receive the market price of 2G spectrum, the companies benefiting from the Minister’s largesse, conducted a sale of spectrum at current market price, converting what should have been an open, transparent public auction (of the kind recently concluded on 3G spectrum) into a private auction. This explains why Swan and Unitech were able to get 5-6 times the value of the spectrum from only a part of their equity sale.
Therefore, the Government should have no hesitation in recovering the market value of spectrum – an additional Rs. 160,000 crore – from the licensees retrospectively. In case they refuse, their licenses should be cancelled. Far from having any impact on consumer tariffs, it will enable the Government to mobilise resources and spend on social welfare, which will benefit the people.
Misconduct of the Telecom Minister
Violation of TRAI Act: In your media interaction on May 24, 2010, you have stated that you been informed by the Minister that he followed the existing policy and TRAI recommendations. This is complete disinformation. The Minister chose to implement only certain elements of the recommendations while flouting three key recommendations of the TRAI – relating to entry limit on service providers, M&A rules and roll-out obligations. This, in spite of the fact that TRAI itself has observed in multiple letters to the DoT, that the Government should not cherry-pick from its recommendations – the recommendations should be seen as a whole.
I would like to emphasis that in case of deviations from the recommendations, as per Clause 11 (1) (a) of the TRAI Act (as amended in 2000), consulting the TRAI was mandatory. The Government has the right to modify TRAI’s recommendations, but only after going back to TRAI, a step which the Minister did not follow. Therefore the changes in the recommendations unilaterally done by the Minister were not just arbitrary acts but a violation of statutory provisions and therefore illegal.
The violations regarding Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) and rollout obligations were made specifically to allow Swan and Unitech to sell their equity. If we take the TRAI recommendations on M&As together with the roll-out obligations as per original terms of the license, Swan and Unitech would not have been able to sell their equity a scant few months after receiving their licenses.
Misuse of 2003 Policy and TRAI recommendations of August 2007 for a bogus first-come-first-served policy: The sequence of events now makes clear that the spectrum issue was not just a case of Governmental incompetence which resulted in this huge loss to the country. It was a series of deliberate acts committed by the Minister to benefit certain favoured parties. The Telecom Minister was given explicit recommendation by TRAI in August 2007 (Section 2.73) that the entry fee existing then based on 2001 prices was not realistic and there was a need to “reassess entry fee through market mechanism.” Further, the PMO (your letter), Finance Ministry, Law Ministry, and internal memos of senior officials of DoT had made it clear that instead of the dubious route of “first come first served” distribution of 2G spectrum / licenses at 2001 prices, other routes for price discovery including auction or appropriate benchmarking should be adopted. I cannot accept that the PMO, the Law Ministry, the Finance Ministry and senior officials in the DoT were all ignorant of the existing policy and TRAI provisions while advising the Ministry on entry fee/spectrum charges. Notwithstanding these recommendations, the Minister went ahead with this spurious first come first served principle claiming previous policy of 2003 and TRAI recommendations as the basis of his decision.
It is pertinent to point out that once DoT had made a reference to TRAI (April 2007) and TRAI had given its recommendations (August 2007), TRAI recommendations have statutory status and over-ride any earlier policy. Therefore, the Minister cannot mix and match from earlier policy and the TRAI recommendations as it suits him.
Arbitrary operation of first-come-first-served policy: There is now clear evidence that the first-come-first-served policy for award of licenses was further vitiated by entirely arbitrary operation of even this principle. The Delhi High Court Judgements of July 1 and November 24, 2009 struck down the September 25 cut-off date imposed by the Ministry on license applications as illegal, calling this change of cut-off date as “... a change in the rule after the game has begun”.
Even more glaring was modifying first-come basis from the date of application for license to whoever deposits the money first with just a few hours’ notice. This was done well after the ranking of parties as per original criterion of first-come was known, and was nothing but a blatant attempt to change this ranking in favour of specific parties. This is now no longer a matter of inferences or media reports but stated in an Audit Report – P&T’s Audit Office report dated March 31, 2010. The entire exercise was nothing but playing favourites and awarding licenses to a hand-picked set of parties.
Immediate Steps
The above is by no means an exhaustive list of the mala fide in the 2G license case. I am bringing out only a few instances of gross misconduct and illegal acts by the Minister. It is also clear that using the 3G license prices as benchmark, the loss to the exchequer has been around Rs. 190,000 crore. In such a situation, the Cabinet as a whole has to take responsibility of this sordid episode and take immediate action, both to repair this damage to the exchequer as well as redeeming its credibility. I would urge you to take the following steps immediately:
1.Take immediate steps to recover lost license and spectrum fees of about Rs. 190,000 crore by using 3G license figures as the benchmark.
2.Immediately drop Shri Raja from the Cabinet while the probe is in progress to prevent undue influence being used to thwart the probe.
3.Suspend the officials against whom now prima facie case exists for illegalities.
The Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) and Students Federation of India members held demonstrations in different parts of the state on Wednesday to press demands pertaining to educational standards.
The agitators wanted the authorities concerned to ensure that private schools were charging tuition fees as per the structure framed.
On the night of May 30, the Israeli armed forces illegally attacked a flotilla of six ships carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza in international waters. At least 15 international activists have been killed and many injured. The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly condemns this unprovoked and criminal attack.
About 700 activists from a number of countries are on the six ships. They were aiming to take 10,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Gaza, which has been under relentless siege for almost three years now.
The attack on the flotilla in international waters, 65 km off the Gaza coast again shows the complete contempt that Israel has for international law or international opinion. Attacking ships in international waters and killing its passengers is a brazen act of piracy and must be treated as such by the international community.
The CPI(M) calls upon the Government of India to condemn this dastardly attack. India must also work actively with other countries from the non-aligned nations in the UN and other bodies to force Israel to lift the illegal siege of Gaza.
"Culture is an important component in human history. Literature is an important component of culture. It plays a vital role in history. In all societies, dominant culture always reflects the interest of ruling classes. The exploited classes contend and contest such dominant culture, making it an important area of class struggle. When the working class is fighting for social change, it goes without saying that there should be progressive change in the field of culture also"
Sitaram Yechury, Polit Bureau member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) pointed out in his message on the occasion of the 41st year celebration of Semmalar. Semmalar in Tamil means Red Flower which bloomed 40 years ago and is now entering its 41st year.
The Tamil literary monthly magazine has played an important role in promoting progressive and working class culture through its content and is helping the oppressed and suppressed people in their fight against the present ruling classes. It is the longest serving literary magazine of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
It was 1970. After the division of Communist Party of India, CPI (M) Tamilnadu state committee felt the necessity for a literary magazine and published an 80 page journal Semmalar on May 1970, priced for 50 paisa, from Madurai.
The eminent novelist K Chinnappa Bharathi became its first editor; and from the very beginning, veteran leader of the Party and long time editor of Theekkathir, late comrade K Muthiah and the veteran leader of the communist movement N Sankariah guided the bringing out of Semmalar. From its birth, Semmalar is waging a tireless fight against imperialism, communalism, religious fundamentalism, casteism, untouchability, cultural policing and fight for Tamil language development, women’s rights, dalit rights etc., through numerous poems, short stories, essays, fictions, novels and dramas from the vast number of progressive writers in Tamilnadu and translations from various languages. It is a history; the Semmalar is proud that a literary magazine gave birth to a writers’ association.
On November 1974, the writers of Semmalar met at Madurai in the presence of veteran leaders of CPI(M) M R Venkatraman, A Balasubramaniyam, A Nallasivan, N Sankaraiah and K Muthiah. The meeting discussed about the contemporary situation of Tamil literature and the condition of Tamil language and decided to create a new organisation to promote the progressive values of Tamil literature. On this line, a state level organising conference of progressive writers was held at Madurai on July 12 -13, 1975. A new organisation-the only organised progressive writers movement in the field of Tamil Literature, Tamilnadu Progressive Writers Association was founded in this conference. Today, after 35 years, this association has more than 200 units across the state and16 thousand of writers and artists as its members. Not only in the area of literature and other fine arts, the association established its roots in the film sector too.
From 1975 to 1977, the nation had experienced the cruelty of the emergency rule of Congress government. At that time, the press was crushed under the censor regime. Particularly, the mouthpiece of CPI (M) Tamilnadu committee, Theekkathir was attacked by the so called censorship. Semmalar also experienced same conditions; the writers were not able to write freely; the censor officers watched small stories, essays and each and every piece of writing.
Short story and novel formats matured during the early quarter of the 20th century and have progressed rapidly to catch up with leading ‘isms’ and formats of world literature. In 1970s-1980s heated discussions were on among the Tamil writers. The so called isms occupied the central place in these discussions. Some writers, who did not have any progressive values, vehemently opposed the progressive and democratic approach on literature; and they were advocating post modernism; existentialism; surrealism like ideologies.
But Semmalar opposed this from the beginning. It shouted with a clear voice; any piece of literature and art should reflect the real life of human being; every piece of writing should help to mould the civilisation of human being; and the creative arts should be realistic.
‘Post modern’ is the term used to suggest contemporary literature of the last half of the 20th century. Not only in the field of art and literature; but in the field of political economy also are certain concepts of ‘post modernism’ propagated by the foreign funded NGO sector and the capitalist media. They project the primacy of ‘identity’ – gender, ethnicity, caste, nationality – over class.
The ideological underpinnings, such as they are, of this trend are provided by what has come to be known as ‘post-modernism’. Post modernism places all struggles on par, with class as just another social category jostling with gender, ethnicity, and nationality and so on for attention. Thus post modernism rules out the possibility of united action by various social sections on the basis of common objective interests; rather it talks of varying coalitions/alliances of forces, joining hands to one extent or other specific forms.
Against such types of capitalist interventions on politics of art and literature, the uncompromising fight of Semmalar is remarkable.
With these progressive values, Semmalar has produced so many poets and writers. If we try to list out, it is very huge. Particularly, K Muthiah, K Chinnappa Bharathi, D Selvaraj, Prof Arunan, Melanmai Ponnusamy, S Senthilnathan, Kandharvan, SU Samudram, Kashyaban, S Tamilselvan, Mythili Sivaraman, Rajam Krishnan, LR Lakshmi, J Sabitha and others, who are the pioneers of progressive movement of Tamil literature, are the products of Semmalar. Among them, SU Samudram and Melanmai Ponnusamy are the winners of SakhityaAcademy award.
Even today, Semmalar is serving as a training camp for young Tamil writers and inspiring more and more young progressive writers. For the 40 years, not only in the content, but technically also Semmalar is updating itself; now it is continuing its journey under the editorship of the senior leader of CPI(M) Tamilnadu and eminent writer S A Perumal with associate editor S Tamilselvan (general secretary of Tamilnadu Progressive Writers and Artists Association), and the editorial team consisting of Sakhitya Academy awardee Melanmai Ponnusamy, eminent novelist and critique Prof Arunan, associate editor of Theekkathir, Madhukur Ramalingam, veteran writer and critique T Varadharajan, and young writers Chola Nagarajan, S Venkatesan and Udhyashankar.
With this enthusiastic movement of class struggle in the field of Tamil literature, Semmalar enters in its 41st year. On this occasion, a grand celebration was held at Madurai on May 12. CPI (M) Poilt Bureau member K Varadharajan and hundreds of writers, poets, readers attended. The pioneers of the magazine K Chinnappa Bharathi and T Varadharajan were honored by K Varadharajan.
When giving special address K Varadharajan said that in a society of class divisions, art and literature without class consciousness cannot exist and with this consciousness, Semmalar is successful in handling the enemies of working class in the field of art and literature.
A special number of the magazine was published on this occasion. CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat and the leaders of the Party Sitaram Yechury,
N Sankariah, R Umanath, N Varadharajan, G Ramakrishnan, veteran writer K Rajanarayanan and veteran critique TK Sivasankaran gave their message of greetings.
It may be opt to conclude this report with the words of Prakash Karat’s message:
In these 40 years, Semmalar has made tremendous contribution in the field of literature placing people’s interest firmly at the centre. At this juncture when corporate media are involved in paid news and mounting vicious attacks on the Left, the positive role of journals like Semmalar assumes greater significance.”
(SP Rajendran, Peoples Democracy)
The first State Conference of Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front(TNUEF) was held at Pudukkottai on 28,29 of May,2010. More than 50000 people all over Tamilnadu attended the Massive Rally organized on 29th evening andCom.Prakash Karat, General Secretary of CPI(M) addresses the Public Meetingheld after the culmination of the rally. The conference was inaugurated by Com.K.Varadrajan, Polit BureauMember of CPI(M)
A resolution adopted said that Tamil Nadu was one of the states prone to atrocities and offences of untouchability. The constitution of a body with statutory powers would go a long way in resolving the issues pertaining to the offences. Although the Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi had assured to constitute a legal body during the course of the Dalit convention at Chennai in October last year, no follow-up action was initiated so far in this regard, the resolution pointed out.
It also pleaded for inclusion of secular experts and representatives of anti-atrocity organisations in the district-level awareness-cum-vigilance committees.
Another resolution pleaded for reservation for Dalits in the private sector and sought immediate filling up of posts in the government and public sector undertakings.
It said that globalisation had resulted in 'injustice' for Dalits especially in the absence of reservation in private job opportunities. The Central government too had 'yielded' to pressure from big industrialists in this regard.
The fact that the regional parties including the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, which formed part of the Central Government, had not voiced their concern had led to denial of social justice.
Further, non-filling up of vacant posts had also deprived the Dalits of their employment opportunities.
For instance, in Railways alone, as many as 1.70 lakh posts were yet to be filled up.
Similarly, a large number of posts were lying vacant in various departments of State Government.
The convention, through another resolution, wanted stern action against officials not implementing the Prevention of Atrocities Act. Allocation of adequate funds for the effective implementation of the Act; periodical convening of the state and district-level committees; expeditious disposal of cases pertaining to atrocities and untouchability offences and awarding due punishment to the accused were also sought.
New Office Bearers elected
On the concluding day a mass rally was taken out, and around 50,000 volenteers from around the state took part in it. The conference also elected new office bearers. Com. P Sampath has been elected the President TNUEF. Com. Samuel Raj has been elected General Secretary. R Jayraman is elected Treasurer. A 98 member state committee is also been constituted.
Annihilation of the caste system should be the goal and the first step is to eliminate untouchability, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat said on Saturday.
Untouchability was the worst feature of the caste system in the country, Mr. Karat told the first State conference of the Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front here. “Even after 62 years of Independence what we find in our society is that caste transcended all classes. Though the Constitution proclaimed equality, we still find it did not go with the ground reality,” Mr. Karat said.
Struggle against the caste system should go along with struggle against socio-economic and class exploitation. What was needed was a social revolution which could not come without fighting and abolishing the caste system.
The Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front had been engaged in path-breaking activity over the last three years fighting all forms of caste discrimination and untouchability. Even people outside Tamil Nadu were looking up to the Front as an inspiration in their struggle against oppression. The Front should bring under its fold all those who were against caste discrimination and untouchability and it would become a genuine instrument in bringing about social change in Tamil Nadu, he said.
Earlier, Mr. Karat released a collection of short stories authored by Aadhavan Dheetchanya on atrocities committed against Dalits.
Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front convenor P. Sampath called for starting branches of the front at all levels within the State. The front had created confidence among the oppressed communities.
General secretary of the All-India Vivasayigal Sangam K. Varadharajan, CPI (M) State secretary G. Ramakrishnan, party MLA S.K. Mahendran and All-India Democratic Women's Association general secretary U. Vasuki took part in the conference.
CPI(M) to seek ATR on Misra report
Addressing a public meeting organised by the front here, Mr. Karat said the CPI(M) would demand, in the next session of the Parliament, an action taken report on the recommendations of the National Commission on Religious and Linguistic Minorities headed by Justice Ranganath Misra.
Though the Centre had placed the commission's report in Parliament it had not acted on that. The CPI (M) would be in touch with other parties in this regard. The commission had made two major recommendations — to provide reservation up to 15 per cent in education and offer job opportunities for the minorities, who were socially, educationally and economically backward. It had also recommended that those of Scheduled Caste origin, irrespective of religion, be brought under the scheduled caste reservation, Mr. Karat said.
The CPI (M) had been demanding that Dalit Christians and any person of Scheduled Caste origin, irrespective of religion, be provided reservation.
Mr. Karat said the economic policies of the Centre had adversely affected the livelihood of people. The policies limited the opportunities for the Dalits as the government had downsized and banned recruitment to various departments. “So where is the reservation for SC and ST?” Mr.Karat said and pointed out that there was no reservation in the private sector.
Fight privatisation
He called upon the oppressed communities to fight the privatisation, liberalisation and globalisation policies of the government as it was the only way to protect their lives.
The government was promoting privatisation of higher education and allowing business houses to start educational institutions. Foreign educational institutions had also been allowed. This way, education would go out of the reach of SC, ST and other backward communities as there would be no reservation.
Mr. Karat said a powerful struggle had to be launched to protect the rights of the Dalits and other oppressed sections. The goals and aims of social reformers like Dr. Ambedkar and Periyar had not been fulfilled even after 62 years of Independence, he said, calling for a fight against caste oppression. Untouchability in any form could not be witnessed in Communist-ruled States, he observed.
has issued the following statement from New Delhi:
Instead of joining the collective efforts to provide relief and assistance to the victims of the recent ghastly rail accident in West Midnapore, sections of the pro-Trinamul Congress intellectuals in West Bengal have mounted an absurd and insidious charge against the CPI (M) and the Left Front Government that they conspired to cause this accident. This is reminiscent of Hitler and Nazi fascists setting the German Reichstag on fire and arresting Dimitrov, General Secretary of the Communist International on that charge. This was followed by a general witch-hunt against the Communists in Germany.
What is more surprising is that the Union Railway Minister has virtually echoed similar charges against the CPI (M) and the Left Front Government in West Bengal. As the Railway Minister it is her basic duty, to be discharged under the oath of our Constitution that she took while assuming office, to inform the country about the Ministry’s preliminary observations on the cause of the accident. She has rather chosen to shield the actual culprits by suggesting that the Maoists may not be behind the sabotage. This is indeed strange that she is saying all this while continuing to demand a CBI enquiry when the State Government has already initiated a CID enquiry.
The Union Railway Minister continues to maintain that there was a blast that led to the accident, while the Union Home Minister has denied that possibility. It is clear that the Union Railway Minister is seeking to cover up for the serious lapses of her leadership in the Railway Ministry and its failings in this tragic episode. During the five months of this year the number of major Railway accidents has been more than in any calendar year since 1980.
It is indeed tragic that instead of joining the country in the wake of a national tragedy these elements are cynically using the situation to further their petty partisan interests. All this is being done in order to influence public opinion on the eve of the municipality elections in West Bengal. The politically conscious people of West Bengal will surely see through this conspiracy and give a fitting rebuff to these diabolical designs.
The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) expresses its grave concern on the shocking incident of the killing of three Kashmiri youths by an army unit in Jammu & Kashmir in an alleged encounter. The Jammu & Kashmir police has registered a murder case against the concerned army unit. Appropriate legal action should be taken against all the perpetrators who were involved in this serious crime and violation of human rights.
The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) expresses its heartfelt condolences to the bereaved members of the families of the three Kashmiri youth who lost their precious life.
The government of India should take all necessary steps to stop the recurrence of such incidents.
The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) expresses its shock and grief at the tragic loss of precious lives in the terrible train accident caused by sabotage by Maoists in the Jhargram area of West Midnapore district of West Bengal close to the Jharkhand border. It extends its deep condolences to the bereaved families and sympathy and concern for those who have suffered injuries. It strongly condemns this dastardly act by Maoists who have once again demonstrated their utter contempt for human lives.
This terrible tragedy has been compounded by the irresponsible absence of due diligence on the part of the railway authorities. In violation of their own declared policy to ensure specific safety measures in Maoist affected areas, in this case the pilot train which should have preceded the passenger train to check the safety of the track was not done. This perhaps could have averted this tragedy and saved the lives of passengers. Further, a goods train that collided with the derailed passenger train on the parallel track, resulting in graver damage of death and injury, could have been prevented. The persistent denial of the existence of Maoist activities in West Bengal by the Railway Minister may have led to the lack of preparedness of the authorities.
The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) demands that a thorough enquiry be conducted into this horrendous incident. The Prime Minister should personally intervene to ensure that the railways, in coordination with security agencies, fulfill their responsibility by stepping up precautionary safety measures to protect passengers and railway property in all Maoist affected areas.
.JPG)
