Protest Maoist Killings

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:

The Polit Bureau strongly condemns the dastardly killing of seven activists of the All India Forward Bloc and the Forward Bloc affiliated tribal organization Agrogrami Adivasi Samiti by the Maoists. The activists include a woman panchayat pradhan Ms. Chapala Garhiat. These activists were abducted on the night of December 16 and were killed subsequently by the Maoist executioners. This is the fist time such a big number of killings of political activists has taken place in West Bengal. This is part of the ongoing sequence of murders in cold blood and shows the depths to which Maoists depredations can stoop. The killings add upto 221 of Left activists and leaders since the last Lok Sabha elections in the three districts of Jangal Mahal as a result of the close complicity between the Maoists and the Trinamul Congress.

The Polit Bureau is confident that these vile attempts to drown the Left movement in blood will end up in failure. Thousands of people in Jangal Mahal are rising to protest these killings and depredations. As in the past, the Left movement will not be cowed down and the entire peace loving and democratic minded people in Jangal Mahal and rest of the state and country will overcome this campaign of terror. We appeal to all peace and democracy loving people of the country to protest against Maoist depredations. We also call upon our Party units to organize protest actions against these dastardly killings.

Veteran Freedom fighter and CPI M leader Com. Papa Umanath Passed away

Com. Papa Umanath, a veteran of militant working class movements before and after independence who spent many of her youthful years in prison and has been in the forefront of the women's movement for decade. She was one of the founder members of AIDWA along with Com. Mallu Swarajyam ,Kanak Mukherjee, Lakshmi Sahgal, Ahilya Rangnekar, Mangaleshwari Deb Barma, Manjari Gupta , Ela Bhattacharya, Susheela Gopalan and Vimal Randive.
She was born in Karaikal (Kovilpati) on August 5, 1931. She was active in the communist party during 1940's when the party was illegal. She was arrested and send to jail in 1948 and 1962. She represented CPIM for a number of times in Tamil Nadu assembly. We pay our glowing tributes to the departed leader.

DYFI cadres protest fuel price hike

More than 300 Democratic Youth Federation of India members were arrested after they staged a road blockade agitation in Thiruppur to protest against the rising fuel prices, poor infrastructure at government-run hospitals and delays in issuance of ration cards, among other issues.

DYFI district secretary R. Vadivel said that the periodic increases in the fuel prices over the last few months had plunged those in the lower economic segments of the society into a state of despair. On the issuance of ration cards, he alleged that about 10,000 people from the city and its suburbs were yet to receive the cards despite applying for the same many months ago. The members came down heavily on the lack of hygiene and inadequate infrastructure at the headquarters hospital.The DYFI called upon the State Government to procure motors from micro and small industries under the scheme to provide these free of cost to farmers.

Similar agitations were carried out by DYFI cadres across the state.

In Nagercol,activists held a demonstration in front of collectorate. DYFI district president Pusbadhas let the agitation. Former member of Lok Sabha A.V. Bellarmine, district secretary of Communist Party of India (Marxist) Murugesn and others spoke.