RICH TRIBUTES TO COMRADE JYOTHI BASU

 

Thousands of supporters and admirers of veteran Marxist leader Jyoti Basu assembled at the Shahid Minar here on Sunday for a condolence meeting held a week after his death on January 17.

Leaders from a wide spectrum of political parties, including representatives from Nepal and Bangladesh, were present. “While it is said of Communists that they are opposed to democracy, Jyoti Basu, in his life, fulfilled the duty of establishing democracy not just in West Bengal, but also in the country…Although he was sent to prison, he never sent his political opponents to jail; even if a law was unjust he never took the law into his own hands and he never took action against a newspaper for criticising him,” West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said.

Basu’s first act as Chief Minister was to free all political prisoners, irrespective of party affiliation. West Bengal was also the first State to have a human rights commission, he said.

“Comrade Jyoti Basu continuously endeavoured to establish and strengthen the system of parliamentary democracy in the State and in the country,” Mr. Bhattacharjee said.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat said: “Of the many leaders who have contributed and made sacrifices for the Communist movement in India, Jyoti Basu was exemplary and one of the most distinguished.”

Emphasising the Marxist leader’s contribution in mobilising the peasants and workers’ movements, Mr. Karat said that in his term as Chief Minister, Basu realised the vision of “land to the tiller” — envisaged during the freedom struggle — by providing land to 25-lakh landless labourers.

He supported the anti-racial movements in Vietnam, Cuba, South Africa, while also backing Palestine, thus contributing to the international struggle against fascism and imperialism, Mr. Karat said.

“Emulate the example”

Describing Basu as “a Communist voice of South Asia,” Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) leader Jhala Nath Khanal said Communists in Nepal, representing 60 per cent of the population, needed to emulate the example set by him in bringing different parties together.

Remembering the support extended to the people of Bangladesh by Basu during the 1971 Liberation War, Rashid Khan Menon, a parliamentarian, spoke on the significant role played by him in forging India-Bangladesh ties. Sajjad Zahir Chandan of the Bangladesh Communist Party and Moinuddin Khan Badal of the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal echoed his sentiments.

Tremendous respect

“Though we were opposed to the politics of Jyoti Basu, there was always tremendous respect for him. I have no difficulty in saying that he is perhaps the most important of the mass leaders who have achieved this stature,” said Subrata Mukherjee, Working President of the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee.

There was no representative from the Trinamool Congress or the Bharatiya Janata Party. Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Bahujan Samajwadi Party chief Mayawati had expressed their desire to attend, but could not do so.

CPI(M) Polit Bureau members Sitaram Yechury, Biman Bose, Mohammed Amin and Nirupam Sen and other senior leaders were present.

CITU KERALA STATE CONFERENCE CONCLUDES

Com K N Raveendranath and Com M M Lawrance has been reelected as the State Secretary and State President of CITU Kerala state committe. Com. K M Sudhakaran is elected as State Treasurer. Further the 11th conference elected 30 member state office bearers, 150 member state committee and a 450 member General council. The conference will conclude with a huge rally of 1 lakh workers which will be inaugurated by Com. V S Achuthanandan.

Rallies taken out in memory of Comrade Jyothi Basu

Several silent mourning processions were taken out throughout West Bengal on Friday Communist Party of India (Marxist) in memory of the great Marxist leader Jyoti Basu, who died on January 17. The CPI(M)’s State Committee had appealed to party supporters to take out silent and peaceful processions to show respect to the leader. According to a senior party member, 25,000 such processions were taken out in 19 districts on the day.

Party supporters carried CPI(M) flags at half-mast and placards displaying pictures of Basu as well as slogans like “ Laal Salaam” and “Jyoti Basu Amar Rahe.” Several Mass and Class organisations also took out processions. Mourning will continue till Saturday and conclude with a condolence meeting organised by the Left Front on Sunday.

People from across the country are still mourning the death of the stalwart. Various memorial programmes are conducted in different states by the party units.

It was a full house at Sundarayya Kala Nilayam, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh on Friday as senior leaders from across the State’s political spectrum met here to pay homage to veteran Comrade Jyoti Basu. “What is important is the way he chose to live for 95 years. He lived with integrity and passion, always striving for the people,” said CPI (M) State secretary B. V. Raghavulu. The condolence meeting was organised by the CPI (M) State committee.

Lenin Memorial Day rally in Moscow

January 21 more than three thousand people came to Red Square to pay tribute to the great Leader VI Lenin on the ocassion of his 86th death anniversay.

Addressing the rally, Communist party of Russian Federation General Secretary Gennedy Zyuganov said that Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was one of the most prominent politicians and statesmen of the world. He managed to create a new theory of building socialism. He managed to create a party of new type, which is managed under extremely difficult circumstances to come to power and realize their main slogans. Lenin declared: "The world - people! Bread - hungry! Land - the peasants! Plants - the workers! ".He suggested two unique plan: a plan of electrification and the NEP. As a result of their implementation breathless, disintegrated Russian empire met a few years into a single Soviet state.

He noted that, despite the attempts of the bourgeois ideologists to blacken the name of the leader, to defile its monuments, Lenin's idea of socialism as the only path to true Freedom, Equality, Democracy - immortal! This is proved by life itself: the achievements of the socialist state, which was built by the Soviet people under the leadership of Lenin and follower of his ideas - Stalin, actually proved an advantage of socialism over capitalism. "The task of the Communist Party is to restore socialism in Russia. Lenin fought for the happiness of the people he was with the people. Lenin is with us He is not dead, He is in the hearts of the working people! "
Functions were organised around the country to pay rich tributed to the Pathfinder of Marxism.

Nearly 2 lakh farm suicides since 1997

P. Sainath

MUMBAI: There were at least 16,196 farmers’ suicides in India in 2008, bringing the total since 1997 to 199,132, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

The share of the Big 5 States or ‘suicide belt’ in 2008 — Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh — remained very high at 10,797, or 66.6 per cent of the total farm suicides in the country. This was marginally higher than it was in 2007 (66.2 per cent). Maharashtra remains the worst State in the nation for farm suicides with a total of 3802. (This is just 40 short of the combined total of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.) The all-India total of 16,196 represents a fall of 436 from 2007. But the broad trends of the past decade reflect no significant change. The national average for farm suicides since 2003 stays at roughly one every 30 minutes.

Within the Big 5, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh recorded higher numbers. The increase of 604 in these three States somewhat offset the dip in Maharashtra (436) and Karnataka (398). But a fall in suicide numbers in other States (for example, a decline of 412 in Kerala and 343 in West Bengal) means that the Big 5 marginally increased their two-thirds share of total farm suicides in 2008.

The NCRB data now cover all States for 12 years from 1997. In the first six years (1997-2002), the Big 5 witnessed 55,769 farmers’ suicides. From 2003 to 2008, they totalled 67,054, a rise of nearly 1900 a year on average.

Maharashtra has logged 41,404 farm suicides from 1997 (over a fifth of the national total) and 44,468 from 1995, the year when this State began recording farm data. No other State comes close. During 1997-2002, Maharashtra saw, on average, eight farmers kill themselves daily. The corresponding figure rose to 11 during 2003-2008. The rise was from an average of 2,833 farm suicides a year in the first period to an average of 4,067 in the next period.

Professor K. Nagaraj, an economist who has worked at the Madras Institute of Development Studies, says of the NCRB data: “There is hardly any decline in the suicide belt, though individual States may show variations across 12 years. If this is the state for 2008, the year of the Rs. 70,000 crore loan waiver and multiple farm packages, then 2009, a drought year, could show very disturbing figures. The underlying agrarian problems seem as acute as ever.”

(Courtesy : The Hindu)

Fradulent Claims on Foodgrains Allocations

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

The CCP decision to make an additional allocation of 10 kg of wheat or rice to all eligible card holders under the TPDS not at the present central issue price of foodgrains but at the higher minimum support price, far from being a help to control prices as being claimed by the Government, will in effect import price rise into the TPDS itself. It represents, in comparison to the present TPDS central issue prices for APL allocations a steep hike of over 77 per cent hike in the case of rice and 85 per cent in the case of wheat. If this so-called additional allocation is to be distributed to the BPL and Antodaya sections a BPL card holder who gets rice at present at five rupees a kilo will have to pay three times the price and Antodaya card holders will have to pay five times more. In the case of wheat, BPL sections will have to pay double more and four times more in the case of Antodaya.

The claims are thus fraudulent. Instead of restoring the 73 per cent cut in the allocations of foodgrains made to the states made over a period of time to APL sections, the Central Government is giving foodgrains at higher cost to the states.

The CPI(M) demands that the additional foodgrains be made at the central issue prices being currently used for the targeted public distribution system.

KARNATAKA : CPI(M) stages protest against price rise

 

BELLARY: The police arrested 155 activists of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), including 48 women, when they tried to break through the barricades to enter the premises of Deputy Commissioner’s office here on Thursday. They were later released.

In response to the Statewide call given by the CPI(M) to lay siege to Deputy Commissioner’s offices in all districts in protest against the spiralling prices of essential commodities and the failure of the Union and State governments to check the price rise, over 300 activists of the CPI(M), the CITU and other affiliated organisations, participated in the dharna, shouting slogans.

The activists insisted that Deputy Commissioner should come to receive the memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister, and said they did not want to hand it over to the Additional Deputy Commissioner who had come to meet them.

When there was no sign of their demand being met, the protesters tried to break through the barricades and were arrested.

CPI (M) leaders criticised the Union and State governments for their “anti-people policies”.

Their demands included dropping the forward trading system, banning multinationals from storing foodgrains and entering the retail trade, action against hoarders, dropping proposals to acquire fertile land for non-agricultural purposes, strengthening the PDS, and enhancing crop loss compensation to Rs. 10,000 an acre.

Gulbarga: Members of the Left parties and several trade unions affiliated to left parties called off their three-day round-the-clock dharna in front of the Vikas Soudha here on Thursday. The decision was taken following an assurance by Deputy Commissioner R. Vishal that he would convene a meeting of officials of the departments concerned in the second week of February to meet the demands of the protesters.

The protesters wanted the Government to curb price rise of essential commodities, provide food security to the displaced families in all the flood-hit villages, issue BPL cards to all the low-income group of employees working in anganwadis, under Akshara Dasoha, in government hostels and gram panchayats.

Members of the Communist Party of India and Communist Party of India (Marxist) and 11 trade unions affiliated to them including the Karnataka Prantha Raitha Sangha, Janawadi Mahila Sanghatne, Construction Workers Sangha, Students’ Federation of India, and Democratic Youth Federation of India, led by the State Secretariat member of the CPM Nityanandaswamy, District Secretary of the CPI Shoukat Ali Alur, District Secretary of the CPM Bhimshetty Yempalli and others, came in a procession from the Jagat Circle to the Deputy Commissioner’s office.

Relief for displaced

Members of the district unit of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) went in a procession from Ambedkar Circle to the Deputy Commissioner’s office where they staged a dharna in Raichur on Thursday.

They submitted a memorandum to the district administration stating their demands. It being a state-wide protest, the demands of the protesters in Raichur district were the same as that in Gulbarga.

However, the memorandum said that if their demands were not met in two days, then they would gherao the officials at the Deputy Commissioner’s office on Saturday.

Kariyappa Acholli, Secretary of the district unit of the CPI (M) party, led the agitation. He said that there were over one lakh flood-affected families in 130 villages in Raichur district. Except for temporary shelters and supply of some foodgrains initially, the Government had done nothing to ensure that the displaced got foodgrains. According to Mr. Acholli, the Government has failed to respond to the problems of the displaced families.

He said that the Government has asked the displaced families to procure foodgrains from the ration depots in their respective villages. But the displaced families have lost everything, including ration cards, in the floods. Besides, they have no source of income because they are all unemployed.

Mr. Acholli said that besides providing BPL cards to all the displaced families in the district, the Government should release 35 kg of rice at Rs. 2 a kg every month through the public distribution system (PDS). This arrangement should be continued until the Government completes the process of rehabilitation and the relocation of the flood-hit villages.

MYSORE: Demanding below the poverty line (BPL) ration cards for the eligible and the supply of foodgrains to all card holders, several hundred workers of the district unit of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) laid siege to the Deputy Commissioner’s office here on Thursday.

The workers alleged that the Union and State governments used unscientific methods to identify beneficiaries and issue BPL cards, when a vast majority of the population was reeling under the pressure of escalating prices of essential commodities. They also raised slogans and displayed placards in support of their cause.

The protest was led by CPI(M) district secretary L. Jagannath and treasurer Balaji. They later submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner, urging him to ensure that their demands were met immediately.

‘No concern’

Addressing the gathering, Mr. Jagannath alleged that while the people in the State were adversely affected by unprecedented floods and drought, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Government, instead of coming to their rescue, engaged in questionable tactics to remain in power. The Government had no concern for the poor, who were entirely dependent on public distribution system (PDS), he added. Instead, the poor were forced to buy foodgrains at a higher rate in the open market.

Charging the Centre with implementing liberalisation policies recklessly, Mr. Jagannath alleged that the Government was favouring black marketeers and hoarders, and the State Government had turned a blind eye to the woes of the people. The State Government was providing rice at Rs. 4 a kg, when neighbouring Tamil Nadu and Kerala governments were providing rice at Rs. 2 a kg.

He demanded that the wages for workers in the unorganised sector be increased to Rs. 6,000 a month.

MANGALORE: A large number of Communist Party of India (Marxist) workers took out a procession here on Thursday to protest against rise in the prices of essential commodities and to demand ration cards to all below the poverty line (BPL) families.

Some of the party workers who broke through the security cordon at the Deputy Commissioner’s Office and barged into the premises were taken into custody.

The State committee of the party had given a call for the protest.

Earlier, addressing the protesters in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s Office, B. Madhava, district unit president of the party, alleged that quantity of foodgrains being supplied to the poor through the Public Distribution System (PDS) was being reduced, endangering the food security.

He urged that the State Government fulfil its promise of providing 20 kg of rice at Rs. 2 a kg every month to poor families.

He threatened that the party would intensify the agitation if the demands were not fulfilled.

Even as Mr. Madhava was addressing the protesters, some of the party activists pushed aside a few policemen at the main gate of the Deputy Commissioner’s Office, barged into the premises and started protesting in front of the Tahsildar’s Office. They were all taken into custody.

Later, the protesters, including party leaders Vasanth Achari and Sunil Kumar Bajal, courted arrest. All of them were released later.

Members of the Udupi district unit of the CPI (M) laid siege to the Deputy Commissioner’s Office here on Thursday, protesting against increase in the prices of essential commodities.

Secretary of the district unit of the party K. Shankar said that both the Union and State governments were following identical policies that were detrimental to the interests of the common man.

The Government should distribute ration cards to all poor families. All ration card-holders should be provided 35 kg of rice and pulses at Rs. 2 a kg every month. The PDS should be strengthened and stern action taken against those found hoarding foodgrains. The Government should also reduce the prices of petrol and diesel, Mr. Shankar said.

Wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act should be increased to Rs. 150 a day and employment should be provided for a minimum of 200 days, Mr. Shankar said.

CPI (M) leaders Vishwanath Rai, A.S. Acharya, Dasbhandary, Dogu Suvarna, Ramesh Mendon, S. Kaviraj, Vidyaraj, H. Vittal, Suresh Kalagar and Mahabala Voderhobli were present.

The protesters were arrested by the police and released later.

KOLAR : Hundreds of activists of the CPI(M), the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), the Karnataka Prantha Raitha Sangha (KPRS), the Janavadi Mahila Sanghatane (JMS) and the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) from different parts of the Kolar district came in a procession. Most of them were women, some even carrying children. They raised slogans against the State and Union governments for their failure in containing the prices of essential commodities.

The stir was organised in response to a call given by the CPI(M) State committee to hold a ‘DC office chalo’ in support of the demand to provide food security to the poor.

Along with the State-level demand, the outfits also raised issues pertaining to irregularities in ration depots and in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act. Initially, the absence of Deputy Commissioner N. Prabhakar reportedly infuriated the protesters and they insisted that he come to the spot to hear their grievances. When Mr. Prabhakar, said to be away in Srinivaspur on official work, failed to turn up, the activists tried to barge into the office. The heavy police contingent had a tough time stopping them. When they picked up CPI(M) State committee member Gandhinagar Narayanswami and CITU leader Yellappa and tried to arrest them, the irate mob surrounded the police van in an attempt to block the police from arresting their leaders. “Don’t arrest only leaders. All of us are ready to court arrest,” they shouted.

During the heated exchange between the police and protesters, some police personnel allegedly trampled several women, besides beating them with lathis. This only infuriated the agitators and they demanded action against the police responsible for the excess.

Later, all the protesters were arrested and lodged at the Police Training Centre premises.

(Courtesy : The Hindu, Mangalorean.com)

CITU Kerala State Conference Begins

Eleventh CITU  Kerala State Conference, started here in Thrissur with a clarion call to build an united Trade union movement to confront the challenged posed by the neo-liberal policies. CITU All India President Inaugurated the Delegate Session. The Delegate session started with flag hoisting by Com . K N Raveendranath, CITU State President. Afterwards the delegates payed homage to the Martyrs. After the inaugural sesssion, Com M M Lawrance, CITU State Secretary tabled the Organizational Report.

Unity of trade unions vital: M.K. Pandhe

Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) president M.K. Pandhe has said the unity of trade unions is vital in the struggle for the emancipation of the working class. He was addressing the 11th State conference of the CITU here on Thursday.

Charter of demands

“Transcending political divides, trade unions are fighting for a five-point charter of demands: checking spiralling prices of essential commodities, growing unemployment, collapse of labour laws, rampant privatisation and setting up of a special fund for the social security of the working class.”

“The central trade unions will launch a nation-wide ‘Jail Baro Andolan’ on March 5 to press for the demands. The CITU, INTUC, BMS, HMS, UTUC, AICCTU and TUCC will take part in it.,”

Dr. Pandhe pooh-poohed the Union government’s claims that the country was enjoying economic progress.

“India ranks 134th among 182 countries in human development, according to the ‘Human Development Report 2009 Overcoming Barriers: Human Mobility and Development’ published by the UNDP. India has 52 dollar billionaires who control one-fourth of the economy. The Union government’s economic packages had boosted the profitability of industries, but they have not helped workers. As many as one crore workers have lost jobs following recession. Minimum wages are not implemented,” he said.

Media downplays violence by Hindutva brigade: Pinarayi

CPI(M) State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan has alleged that the media overstates terror activities perpetrated by a minority among the Muslim community, but downplays violence and extremism committed by the Hindutva brigade.

He was addressing a seminar on ‘Challenges raised by fundamentalism and terrorism’ held as part of the 11th State conference of CITU here on Thursday. “Consider how the issue of Malegaon blast was handled. You may have noticed that there is no propaganda against the RSS in this case,” he said.

He condemned the reported tendency to see all Muslims as fundamentalists.

“Only a few members of the community have chosen the wrong path of terrorism. They have taken a suicidal step and it needs to be condemned. Terrorism is not an answer to the problems faced by minorities. People should know that solutions can be derived only through democratic, humanistic means,” he said. He alleged that the Congress was in cahoots with fundamentalists.

“The Indian Union Muslim League, a member of the UDF, protects the National Development Front. Why should the Congress, which claims to be a secular party, tie up with the NDF?”

He said the Congress and its then Prime Minister could not wash its hands of having promoted and protected forces that demolished the Babri Masjid. “Who promoted Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and ultimately toppled him? History has recorded its aftermath,” he said.

A. Vijayaraghavan and P.R. Rajan, MPs; LDF convener Vaikom Viswan; CPI(M) district secretary Baby John; M.M. Varghese, general convener of the conference; and Ninan Koshy were present.

(Courtesy : The Hindu)

 

CPI(M), Rectification and Religion : Prakash Karat

Dr K S Manoj, a former MP of the CPI(M) from Kerala, has announced recently that he is quitting the Party.  The reason cited by him is that the Party, in its rectification document, has directed Party members not to participate in religious ceremonies.  Since he is a firm believer, this goes against his faith. Hence he has decided to give up his Party membership.

This step by Dr Manoj has been projected by some sections of the media as if  being a member of the CPI(M) would be incompatible with the religious faith of a person.   Some well-meaning religious leaders have asked the Party if this is a decision taken to exclude believers from the Party.  First of all, the CPI(M)'s basic stand on religion needs to be spelt out.  The CPI(M) is a Party based on the Marxist outlook.    Marxism is a materialist philosophy and its views on religion share the same roots as the Enlightenment philosophers of the 18^th century.  Based on this, Marxists want the State to treat religion as a private affair.  There should be a separation of State and religion.

Marxists are atheists, i.e., they believe in no religion. But Marxists understand the origin of religion and the role it plays in society.  As Marx said, “Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of the heartless world, just as it is the spirit of the spiritless situation”.  Hence, Marxism does not attack religion per se. But the social conditions which make it “the sigh of the oppressed creature”. 

Lenin, while expounding the Marxist standpoint  on religion and its atheist outlook, himself posed the questions: “If this is so, why do we not declare in our Programme that we are atheists?  Why do we not forbid Christians and other believers in God to join our Party?”  Lenin answered these questions by explaining that for Marxists, the attitude to religion is determined by the concrete conditions of the class struggle.  The priority for the working class party is to unite workers irrespective  of whether they believe in religion or not,  in the class struggle against the oppressive capitalist order.  As Lenin put it: “Unity in this really revolutionary struggle of the oppressed class for the creation of a paradise on earth is more important to us than unity of  proletarian opinion on paradise in heaven”. 

Therefore, while the CPI(M) upholds the materialist outlook, it does not bar people having religious faith from joining the Party.  The only condition for membership is acceptance of the Party Programme, the Constitution and the willingness to work under Party discipline in an organisational unit of the Party.

In the present Indian conditions, the CPI(M) is not fighting religion but communalism based on religious identity.  The CPI(M) is a consistent advocate of the rights of religious minorities. 

There are, among the members of the CPI(M), some who have religious faith.  They belong to the working class, peasantry and other sections of the working people.  Among them some go to the temple, mosque or church to pray.  They, like Dr Manoj himself has said, combine their religious faith with work among the poor and the toiling people. 

The CPI(M) has no hesitation to join hands with  believers and those religious leaders who espouse the cause of the poor, or, act in defence of the rights of the working people.

In Kerala itself, there is a long history of such cooperation. EMS Namboodiripad had written about the areas of Marxist-Christian cooperation and conducted a dialogue with some of the leaders of the church. Having said this, the issue at present is not the basic position of the CPI(M) towards religion and people of faith joining the Party. It is to do with the rectification campaign that is being undertaken within the Party.

The Party expects its leading cadres to absorb the Marxist world outlook based on dialectical materialism.  By this, in the process of becoming a Marxist, Party members adopt the scientific world outlook and shed  religious belief. 

There are two aspects of religious activity which are mentioned in the rectification campaign document adopted by the Central Committee. 

One of the guidelines given is educate the Party members to eschew all social, caste and religious practices which are alien to Communist norms.   Party members are not being asked to give up their religious faith or practice.  But if there is any religious custom or practice which goes against Communist norms such as practice of untouchability, depriving women of equal rights or obscurantist customs such as preventing widows from remarriage etc. which are given religious sanction – these are to be given up.  The direction in the rectification campaign is to see that Party members do not practice social, or, religious customs which entail caste, gender or social discrimination.

The second refers to the guidelines for the conduct of leading Party functionaries  and elected representatives.   They have been asked not to host  lavish weddings for their family members and refrain from taking dowry.  They have also been asked not to organise religious ceremonies or  personally conduct religious rituals.  Leading Party cadres such as leaders of state committee, district committee, zonal/area committees etc are expected to uphold progressive values in their personal and social lives.  They should not organise religious ceremonies, or, personally conduct rituals. It is another matter that they may have to participate in social functions with religious ceremonies organised by others, especially if they are elected representatives like MLAs, panchayat members and so on.  Communist Party leaders cannot profess something in public and do something else in their personal life. 

So, to sum up: The Communist Party does not bar persons who have religious faith from joining the Party.  While they may practice their faith, they are expected to also uphold secularism and oppose the intrusion of religion into the affairs of the State.

The rectification guidelines are designed to help Communist Party members live by Communist norms and values.  As far as the leading cadres are concerned, the Party expects them to behave like Marxists both in their public and private life. 

Dr Manoj is wrong in stating that the CPI(M) guidelines for its leading cadres on religious practice is against the Indian constitution.  The constitution provides for a secular State which guarantees the right to practice one's religion to a citizen.  It also ensures the right for a citizen not to practice religion.  The CPI(M) is an organisation in which citizens voluntarily join if they subscribe to its philosophy. 

The guidelines referred to are not new.  They were set out in 1996 when the first rectification campaign document was adopted.  Anyway, since the matter has now been raised, it is necessary for us to clarify the Party's stand on religion and the Communist outlook.

(Peoples Democracy)

CITU Kerala State Conference From Tommorow onwards

11th CITU Kerala state conference will start from tomorrow at Thrissur, the cultural capital of Kerala. The conference will conclude on 23rd with a huge rally. 650 delegates representing around 13 lakh members of the organisation will participate in the conference. The conference will be inaugurated by Com M K Pandhe, CITU All India President on 21st morning. CITU State General Secretary Com. K N Raveendranath will hoist the flag. On the opening day evening a Seminar on the subject "Challenges posed by Communalism and Terrorism" will be inaugurated by Com. Pinarayi Vijayan. On the second day a Seminar on "Global economic Crisis and Working Class " will be inaugurated by Com. Sitaram Yechury. The concluding day rally and meeting will be inaugurated by Com. V S Achuthanandan. The conference will discuss various issues relating to labour front and the working class. Discussions will be held on unity among trade unions to fight the threat faced by the working class from the capitalist forces.