CITU All India Conference Begins in Kannur

Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, Charmian of Reception committee hoists the red flag in C Kannan Nagar(Municipal Stadium and the venue of public meeting) on the eve of 14th All India Conference of CITU. CITU president A K Padmanabhan, general secretary Tapan Sen are also see

All India conference of India’s most powerful trade union, Centre of Indian Trade Unions, is set to begin at Kannur tomorrow. CITU president A K Padmanabhan will hoist the red flag in morning at Com. M K Pandhe Nagar(Police Maidana) in Kannur town and his presidential address in Dipankar Mukherjee Nagar, will be followed to mark the commencement of the conference. General Secretary Tapan Sen will present the report before the 2000 delegates. The conference will culminate on 8^th April with a massive rally of workers in Kannur district. Delegates from all states have reached in Kannur by Wednesday evening.

 The flag march led by CITU state president Anathalavattam Anandan, the torch relay led by K M Sudhakaran, and flag pole march led by M M Lawrence have converged in AKG square and three jathas jointly moved to Com. C Kannan Nagar (Municipal stadium),  the venue of public meeting. The flag march was started from Valiya Chudukad, in Alappuzha, where the martyrs of Punnapra-Vayalar were cremated. The flag pole march started from Kayyur, in Kasargode district and the torch relay started from Thillankeri in Kannur district. In C Kannan Nagar, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, Chairman of reception Committee hoisted the red flag.
 CITU which gathered a massive impetus through the February 20, 21 All India strike will focus on the strengthening of Trade Union unity in the run up for widening struggles to coerce the central government to revoke the anti-people neo liberal policies. While elaborating the structure of the conference, General Secretary Tapan Sen said that the immediate responsibility of CITU is to spread the message of All India strike among the workers and people.
 Ten crores people including workers, farmers, and agricultural workers took part in the All India strike called by India working class movement. It can be analyzed that the working class movement has reached into new phase of growth. Disregarding the political affiliations other central trade unions like INTUC, and BMS also actively took part in the strike. The warnings of working class were disregarded by the Prime Minister who keeps on pouring concessions to the corporate houses. Finance Minister P Chidambaram too avoided the suggestions of working class while presenting budget.  Trade union leaders will meet in Delhi on May 3^rd to plan the future course of action.

 While presenting the outline of the deliberations to be taken place, Tapan Sen said that our thrust will be on democratic functioning of organization, how to tackle the social issues like divisive and communal agenda, changing scenario in the labor force and how to fight the policies of the central government. On April 7^th delegates will discuss commission papers based on this four pronged agenda.

  Contract labor issue will also be discussed. Permanent jobs are decreasing in India as the strength of temporary workers in the total work force reaches 70-80 percent.

 While replying a query on sustainability of Trade Union unity, Sen said that the unity is not formed recently and for the last four years all TU’s are jointly organize the struggles. This achievement was come true with the hard work of two decades. The unity is not only shown in the national leadership level but among the factory level. Ordinary workers also want to be united, he said.

 A K Padmanabhan, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, Reception Committee General Convenor K P Sahadevan, CITU state General Secretary Elamaram Kareem were also present in the press conference.

Thousands Join in Funeral Rally of SFI Leader in Kolkata

 

Thousands of protestors joined in the funeral rally of Comrade Sudipta Gupta, SFI leader who was killed on Tuesday in police brutality. SFI leader’s body was taken to his home and his former college in Netaji Nagar in south Kolkata after post mortem. Then the body was taken to SFI state office in A. J. C. Bose Road where hundreds of students, youth and people from all walks of life were waiting for hours. Left leaders including Biman Basu, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Surjya Kanta Mishra, Ashoke Ghosh paid their tributes to the departed young comrades. Amidst slogans, student activists vowed to continue their fight against the authoritarian State Government. A huge rally then marched towards the crematorium.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had gone to the SSKM Hospital on Wednesday where Gupta succumbed to his injuries but instead of criticizing the police action, she said that it was an accident and that many supporters of her own party were also killed while travelling on train roof. She instantly faced protest from the SFI supporters after making the statement and the latter alleged that the CM guarded the police department and there was little chance that the guilty would be punished.
The family of the slain student leader refused to accept help from the chief minister. "We are not beggars," said Gupta's emotional father.
West Bengal witnessed another gruesome attack on democratic rights which cost this young life. SFI leader Sudipta Gupta was killed in a brutal police attack on SFI activists in Kolkata on 2nd April. A member of SFI West Bengal state committee, Sudipta was brutally beaten after arrest and died on his way to jail in police custody. He was 23, just completed his MA in Political Science from Rabindra Bharati University. Sudipta was a frontline organizer, a member of Kolkata district secretariat of SFI, popular among students and friends, with a skilled voice of singing.
Four Left students’ organizations called for a law breaking programme to protest the draconian decision of the State Government banning all students’ union elections in the state. Thousands of students marched from College Street and assembled in Rani Rasmoni Road in Kolkata and expressed their anger against the Government action. They moved forward defying police lathicharge. Hundreads were arrested and taken into private buses under police custody. They were taken to Alipore Jail. On the way to jail, police started to beat the arrested SFI activists in a bus. Some of the SFI activists fell from the bus, Sudipta being one of them. He was grievously injured bur was not spared by police. According to eye witnesses, Sudipta was beaten even after he fell down from the bus. Sudipta suffered a serious head injury. In fact he was so roughly beaten that his head and face were fractured severely. SFI activists rescued him and police put the injured SFI leader in a police jeep. The jeep brought him to SSKM hospital but after delaying for about 15minutes. He was admitted in the hospital but expired after few hours.
Many other SFI activists suffered injuries. The right hand of Sheikh Jogesh Hossain of Murshidabad was badly injured and he has undergone an emergency operation in Kolkata medical College Hospital.
Kolkata police, in a surprise action, called a press conference even before Sudipta’s death and offered the theory of ‘accident’. According to them Sudipta hit a lamppost while in bus. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee legitimized this police version even after SFI registered a formal complaint against the police.
This brutal attack caused an outrage throughout the state. SFI and other left students organizations hold demonstration and processions throughout the state. Thousands participated in the funeral rally of the departed comrade. A statewide students strike was observed on 4th April. Teachers’ organizations condemned the killing.
Meanwhile, Left Front demanded a judicial enquiry of the incident. Left Front called a strike in southern parts of Kolkata, where Sudipta lived on 4th April.
Sudipta Gupta is 93rd martyr of the left movement in West Bengal after TMC Government came into power.

CPIM condems Killing of Student Leader in West Bengal

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

The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly condemns the killing of a student leader, Sudipta Gupta, under police custody, in Kolkata. Along with a large number of students, Sudipta, a leader of the Students Federation of India, was protesting demanding holding of college union elections in the state, which the Trinamul Congress state government has been thwarting. The protest action took place with prior police permission. When the students were arrested and were under police custody, Sudipta was killed.

West Bengal LF appeals to Governor to solve panchayat poll impasse

Accusing ruling Trinamool Congress of hatching a conspiracy to delay panchayat polls, the Opposition Left Front today met Governor M K Narayanan seeking his intervention to end the stand off between West Bengal government and State Election Commission over the elections.

"We met the Governor and appealed to him to intervene and start a conciliatory approach in solving the problem because we want panchayat elections to be held on time," Left Front chairman Biman Bose told reporters after the meeting.

Bose accused the Trinamool Congress of hatching the  pre-planned conspiracy and forcing the SEC to look for legal recourse and claimed that all ministers were not aware of it.
Only Panchayat Minister Subrata Mukherjee and Trinamool Congress General Secretary Mukul Roy were party to it, he said.

"Mukherjee was given the duty of creating confusion by triggering a tiff with the SEC. Roy was given the duty of defending the ruling party's image in the public," Bose alleged, adding that the Trinamool is trying to buy time by delaying the process of the grass root polls.

"The government doesn't have any achievements to showcase. And, the Trinamool is plagued by infighting and factional feud, so it is trying to buy time before the panchayat polls to tackle those problems," he said.

Bose claimed that after the end of present rural bodies' tenure, they will stop getting funds for development schemes from the Centre.

Asked whether the LF will explore legal options over the stalemate, Bose said, "We have not discussed the matter."  The state government and the SEC have locked horns over the schedule of the polls.

While the state government has announced that the elections will be held in two phases under supervision of the state police, the SEC has proposed that the polls be held in three phases under supervision of central forces.

Death of Comrade Sudipto will not go in vain! Intensify the struggle against Mamta Banerjee’s authoritarian rule in West Bengal!

Central Executive committee of the Students’ Federation of India dips its banner in the memory of Comrade Sudipto Gupta, a state committee member of the West Bengal State committee, who succumbed to fatal injuries today, while a protest in Kolkata was severely lathicharged by the police. The brutality was so severe that even his eyeballs came out. This incident brought back the haunting memories of the Bidhan Chandra Roy’s regime when police used such brutal measures against the protesters. The death of the brave, young 23 year old boy speaks volumes about the state of democracy in West Bengal under the Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee’s regime.

This protest was called by the 4 left students’ organizations against the series of moves by the state government which seek to curb campus democracy, the most retrograde of which plans to limit the students’ union elections to once every 2 years. What really made the ruling masters fear to this extent that they had to cut short this young life? History has all the answers. Even during the regime of semi-fascist terror of the 1970s, the campuses of West Bengal were the dens of resistance. Today when Mamta Banerjee is leaving no stone unturned to again take back Bengal to that dark period of terror, it is again from the campuses that the voices of resistances are picking up and joining with those struggling outside. Be it the curb on campus democracy or the cold blooded murder of Sudipto Gupta- everything reflects this fear. But, let it be made clear that the martyrhood of our brave comrade shall not go in vain. In the coming days the struggle against the authoritarian regime of Mamta Banerjee shall become sharper and sharper.

The Central Executive of the Students’ Federation of India calls for an All India Protest day on 4th April across the campuses and units of the country against this heinous attack on the democratic rights, when the students of West Bengal will go for a massive statewide strike.

CPIM to oppose privatisation of water in Kerala

Water, its shortage and the perceived moves for its privatisation, is to be the central theme of the string of agitations being planned by the State CPI(M) from the first week of May. The CPI(M) Kerala State committee, which on Thursday and Friday, has chosen water shortage and privatisation, Centre’s neglect of Kerala, and ‘anti-people’ policies of the UDF government as the three key issues to be highlighted during its agitations that would begin with picketing of taluk offices from May 2 to 5.

Briefing reporters about the deliberations of the committee, CPI(M) State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan said branch committees of the party would visit homes and organise people’s conclaves on May 3 and 4 to discuss the issues sought to be raised through the agitation.

Party workers would hold marches at the level of the area committees from May 9 to 16, he said. Kerala, the CPI(M) leader pointed out, faced severe challenges on the water front despite the State receiving an estimated 3,000 mm of rain every year.

The situation was grim in most parts of the State due to the current dry spell. The situation would worsen if the UDF government went ahead with its plans to privatise water distribution through a company modelled after the Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL).

The government would have only minority shareholding in the proposed company. This would mean that the private players would take all the crucial decisions regarding water pricing and distribution. The State was currently supplying 1,000 litres of drinking water at Rs.4.20. This would go up to Rs.250 once privatisation becomes a reality. The UDF government had already done much to undo the major efforts made by the LDF to put the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) in a position of strength. With privatisation, it would cease to have any role. The CPI(M) would not allow the government to have its way on this issue, Mr. Vijayan said.

Central investment

The CPI(M) agitation would also seek to draw public attention to the falling Central investment in the State from 3.1 to 2.6 per cent of the GDP. The State government’s failure to hold the price line and its various ‘anti-people’ policies would also figure in the campaign, the CPI(M) leader said.

(Source : The Hindu)

CPIM Delegates welcomed in Vietnam

The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) should continue promoting their relations through the exchange of delegations and theories as well as the sharing of experience in party building and economic development, said a senior CPV official.

Dinh The Huynh, Politburo member and Secretary of the CPV Central Committee, made the statement at a reception for a visiting delegation from the CPI -M led by Politburo member M.A. Baby in Hanoi on March 26.

Huynh described the March 25-31 visit as a vivid manifestation of the traditional friendship between the two parties and peoples.

He expressed his wish that the CPI -M, with its important role in the Indian political arena, will continue to make active contributions to further consolidating the Vietnam-India multi-faceted cooperation and strategic partnership.

For his part, M.A. Baby congratulated the Vietnamese people on great achievements they have made in the renewal process.

He said he believes that the Vietnamese people, under the leadership of the CPV, will speed up the nation’s industrialisation and modernisation process, as well as realize the target of turning Vietnam into a strong country with prosperous people and a democratic, fair and civilised society.

He affirmed that the CPI-M will try its utmost to continuously consolidate and further develop the traditional friendship between the two parties and peoples, thus strengthening the two nations’ strategic partnership.

Left parties calls for Andhra Pradesh bandh on April 9

Leaders of Left parties have called for a State-wide bandh in Andhra Pradesh on April 9 to protest against the hike in power tariffs and the fuel surcharge adjustment. At a meeting of the leaders of these parties  on Wednesday, it was resolved to intensify the agitation, starting with protests in every mandal and district headquarters town across the State on April 1, culminating in a bandh.

Earlier in the day, all seven leaders of Left parties on a hunger strike for the past four days were discharged from Gandhi Hospital.

The Left parties’ leaders declared that they would not relent till the government realised its folly and came up with a people-friendly energy policy, also absorbing the entire burden of the FSA.

Sri Lanka Resolution: Ground Realities Not Considered

RESOLUTION OF THE TAMIL NADU STATE SECRETARIAT OF THE CPI(M), March 27, 2013

The Tamil Nadu State Secretariat of the CPI(M) is of the view that the resolution passed by the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly on the issue of Sri Lankan Tamils today (March 27, 2013) has been passed without taking into account the ground realities facing Sri Lankan Tamils.

Even though four years have passed since the end of the war between the Liberation Tigers and the Sri Lankan armed forces, the Sri Lankan government has not found a solution to the issue of Sri Lankan Tamils.

The war crimes committed by the Sri Lankan armed forces against the Sri Lankan Tamils in the final stages of the war and the violations of human rights have had severe consequences. Forty thousand innocent Tamils have been killed in the final stages of the war. It causes great distress that the trials and tribulations faced by Sri Lankan Tamils continue without end.

The CPI (M) urged in 2009 itself when the war between the LTTE and the SriLankan Armed Forces reached its peak that the United Nations and the government of India must intervene to stop the war, make efforts to devolve powers in Sri Lanka through negotiations between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE and prevent the deaths of innocent people trapped in the war zone.

From the beginning, the CPI(M) has continuously insisted that armed conflict will not solve the ethnic issue in Sri Lanka, that the Northern and Eastern provinces (of Sri Lanka) where Tamils live must be merged and given greater autonomy and that the Tamils and the Tamil language must receive equal treatment in Sri Lanka at all levels. It has also urged that both as a member of SAARC and as a neighbour, India must intervene diplomatically to help find a political solution to the question of Sri Lankan Tamils.

The immediate need of Tamils affected by the war is that of ensuring basic livelihood and guarantee of rehabilitation. Along with the withdrawal of armed forces from areas where Tamils live to create a democratic atmosphere, Sinhalisation should be stopped. A political solution and devolution alone will enable Tamils to live on a basis of equality with the Sinhalese people. No other proposed solution will help put an end to the travails of the Sri Lankan Tamils.

Demanding a referendum on the demand for a separate Eelam or announcing that Sri Lanka is not to be regarded as a friendly country will not only not help solve the Sri Lankan Tamils issue. It will in fact complicate the issue further.

The immediate task before us today is not to demand an international inquiry into the war crimes committed by the Sri Lankan armed forces. Instead, we must make the Sri Lankan government agree to conduct a credible inquiry by an international panel of judges and punish those found guilty. We must raise our powerful and united voice urging upon India and the United Nations to put pressure on the Sri Lankan government to grant maximum autonomy including devolution of powers to Sri Lankan Tamils.

The CPI(M) shares the feelings underlying the struggles conducted by students in Tamil Nadu for several days now condemning the atrocities against Sri Lankan Tamils and urging devolution of powers. In view of the fact that all democratic forces in Tamil Nadu and the people of the state have raised their united voice in support of Sri Lankan Tamils, the CPI(M) appeals to the students to end their agitations and pay attention to their curricular tasks.

CPIM to contest in 18 seats to Karnataka Assembly Election

CPIM Karnataka State committee has decided   to  contest  from 18 constituencis for the coming Assembly elections. Vidhana Sabha election, will be held on May,5th’2013. CPIM has decided to support CPI candidates in their constituencies. The party had not decided on extending support to candidates in constituencies where they were not contesting.

The CPI(M) would field candidates from Bagepally, Gouribidanur, Chintamani, Bangarpet-kgf), Gulbarga Rural, Mangalore, Mangalore south, Belthangady, Malvalli, Hospet, Kampli, Kanakagiri, Kundapur, Bainduranakal, Doddaballapur, Krishnarajpura, Tumkur, Chickballapur. he constituencies are;  Mangalore South, Mangalore and Belthangadi. Some of the candidates have also been announced. 

Vasantha Achary

Krishnappa Salian

Adv B M Bhat

The Dakshina Kannada district committee of the party has taken a decision to field candidates in three constituencies and will decide soon on supporting able candidates in other constituencies. The party's state secretariat members Vasantha Achari, BM Bhat and Krishnappa Salian will file nominations for Mangalore City South, Belthangady and Mangalore constituencies respectively.

Vasantha Achari, who is an advocate, is the state secretary of CITU, the trade union of CPI(M). He is the general secretary of Motor Transport and Engineering Workers Union and state secretary of Karnataka State Building and Other Construction Workers Federation.

BM Bhat, who is also an advocate, is the state vice-president of CITU. He is the president of Belthangady Taluk Beedi Workers Association and the state vice-president of Karnataka State Building and Other Construction Workers Federation.

Krishnappa Salian is the district vice president of Karnataka Prantha Raitha Sangha.