Press Communiqué
The Polit
Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) met in New Delhi on
October 6, 2013. It has issued the following statement:
Railway Fare Hike
The
Polit Bureau strongly opposed the 2 per cent hike in rail fares in
express and mail trains for all categories of passengers. The freight
tariff has also been increased by 1.7 per cent. This hike is consequent
to the decision to periodically hike the rail and freight fares. The
Polit Bureau demands the rescinding of the fare hike and an end to the
system of periodically increasing the passenger and freight fares based
on the fuel prices.
Privatisation of Airports
The
Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) condemned the decision of the government to
hand over the running of the two metro airports of Chennai and Kolkata
owned by the Airports Authority of India to private parties. Along with
this 12 other airports are to be similarly outsourced to private
companies.
In both Kolkata and Chennai it is the
Airport Authority of India which built the new terminals and these
public funded airports are now to be handed over to private companies.
Apart from handing over public assets, the future of the employees of
the Airport Authority of India will be jeopardised.
The central government should immediately scrap this privatization plan.
Allocation of Resources to States
The
allocation of resources and funds to the states has always been a
contentious issue. The CPI(M) has been demanding that fifty per cent of
the central taxes and revenues should be allocated to the states.
The
Raghuram Rajan Committee report on indexing backwardness of the states
has been submitted to the government. The recommendations of this report
should not be implemented without first consulting the state
governments.
The Finance Commission is the
constitutionally set up body for devolution of resources to the states.
The question of equitable allocation of resources to the states and also
taking into account the backwardness of states should be decided only
after consultations with the states.
PM’s Washington Visit
A
joint declaration on defence cooperation has been issued after Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh’s talks with President Obama in Washington.
Steps for deepening defence cooperation include buying more US weapons
and joint production. This will open the way for American arms companies
to set up joint ventures in India. The clear intention is to make India
a close ally of the US.
The CPI(M) is against
India being drawn into such a close military collaboration with the US.
It will adversely affect our national sovereignty, carrying out an
independent foreign policy and our strategic autonomy.
West Bengal Attacks
Attacks
on the CPI(M) and Left Front cadres and activists are continuing in
West Bengal. The Trinamul Congress under the aegis of the state
government is responsible for this violence against the opposition.
After the results of the panchayat elections, six cadres and members of
the CPI(M) have been killed, the latest being the brutal murder of a
member of the zonal committee of the party in Bardaman district.
The
Polit Bureau demanded that such attacks should be stopped forthwith and
the state government must take steps to end this violence against the
opposition. The Polit Bureau appealed to all democratic forces in the
country to protest against this violence and attacks on democracy.
Muzaffarnagar Riots
The
Polit Bureau expressed its deep concern at the major outbreak of
communal violence in Muzaffarnagar on September 7-8. Forty five people
were killed, hundreds injured and some women were raped. Around forty
thousand people had to take shelter in camps.
This
communal violence has come in the background of the systematic efforts
to raise communal tensions and provoke violence by the RSS outfits. The
Uttar Pradesh administration was not vigilant and did not intervene
promptly to prevent the situation from developing into such a conflict.
In this connection, the Polit Bureau wants the Prevention of Communal Violence Bill to be taken up expeditiously and adopted.
Convention for People’s Unity And Against Communalism
The
Polit Bureau extended its full support to the holding of a convention
on October 30 which is meant to mobilize the people to maintain people’s
unity and to combat the communal forces.
