Tag Archives: CPI(M)

Marxism does not attack religion per se

08 Friday Jan 2016

Posted by in Communalism, CPI(M), Current Affairs, History, INDIA, Left politics, RELIGION, Religious Intolarence

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

Sitaram Yechury

[This text is based on the speech delivered by Sitaram Yechury, General Secretary of CPI(M)  at the valedictory function of the 83rd Sivagiri Pilgrimage Celebrations on January 1, 2016 at Kerala.]

It is, indeed, an honour to be here at Sivagiri. My heartfelt thanks for being invited to share some thoughts with all of you in the concluding session of the 83rd Sivagiri Pilgrimage celebrations. It is, indeed, a very new and an appropriate way to begin the new year. A Happy New Year to all of you.

I belong to a generation that grew up on the values propagated by Srinarayana Guru – `the oneness of humanity’, with no social barriers on the grounds of caste, religion, region etc.  The slogan of `one caste, one religion, one god’ is an elevated expression of humanism which recognizes the value of a human being  as being supreme. A value that recognizes all human beings as being equal, irrespective of all social divisions.  This universality of oneness of humanity, in a sense, crystallizes the finest elements of  rational thought and philosophy that emerged in the course of the advance of human civilization in these lands.  As “different rivers flow through different courses to merge in the ocean”, so do different human beings through the practice of individual beliefs and faith eventually merge with humanity as a whole. This is humanism of the highest variety.

Such humanism has a strong resonance with the Communist philosophy and worldview.  The overriding concern of Marxism is humanism.  In fact, Karl Marx had once said, “Nothing human is alien to me”.  It is the pursuit of the simple question of what constitutes the real freedom of a human being and his consequent liberation, Marx proceeded to reject the Hegelian idea of the revolution of the mind as articulated by Feuerbach, during his time, to come to a conclusion of seminal importance.  This was: consciousness of a human being is determined by the social conditions and not vice a versa. “It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but on the contrary their social being that determines their consciousness”.

Marxism’s focus on changing the concrete conditions of material existence, as the basic pre-requisite for human liberation, emerges from this understanding and hence Marx’s own scientific study on the real living conditions of the people and his consequent dissection of capitalism.

It, indeed, sounds as a strange paradox that a practitioner of Marxism, a Communist foot soldier, a confirmed atheist has been invited to be here as a part of these pilgrimage celebrations.  A  great deal of controversy has always existed regarding the Marxist understanding of religion. The popular perception is the normally out of context quotation that “religion is the opium of the people”. In fact, deliberately, the passage in which this statement finds place is never quoted in the full. Marx had stated :”Religious distress is at the same time the expression of real distress and the protest against real distress. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of the heartless world, just as it is the spirit of the spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people”.

Religion, is the opium in the sense that it is as potent as opium in transporting human beings to an illusory world. For a human being who is oppressed, religion provides the escape for  relief, it provides  a “heart in a heartless world, a spirit in a spiritless situation.” This is the strength and power of religion. It is like opium that the people are fed, to lull themselves into submission, robbing them of their inherent potential to change the real world, and hence, remain in conditions which appear outside of both their comprehension and control.

Marxism does not attack religion per se. It’s attack is on the conditions that give rise to the conditions that perpetuate the hold of religion on the people.  The point is to change the real world; to  transform the comforts of an illusory world into concrete reality. Therefore, as a Communist, we can assure you that the CPI(M) will be the foremost upholder of every individual’s right to his/her choice of their faith and their right to maintain their beliefs and propagate them.  We will defend,  till the last breath, this right of the individual choice and protect the faith of every individual. It, therefore, necessarily follows that we shall also protect everybody against any attempt to interfere into the rights of individual liberty of faith by any body of thought or action.  This is precisely what the communal forces attempt to do today.  The CPI(M)’s opposition to communalism is, hence, integral to both its philosophy and practice.

This growth of rabid communal polarization that we see around us today runs completely in contradiction with the body of thought and action that the Guru has bequeathed to us.   This rich legacy and the philosophical activities that the Guru undertook had heralded a movement for social renaissance in Kerala.  Remember, Swami Vivekananda had once described the Kerala society as a `mad house’ of casteism.  The Guru, through his philosophy of oneness of humanity,  spread the indomitable values of equality and humanism.  Kerala was a society where caste prejudices went beyond even the obnoxious practice of untouchability. In Kerala, there was the practice of unseability. Comrade EMS Namboodiripad used to tell us that in his childhood, it was not unusual to see some `unfortunate’ human beings carrying a bell around their neck whose sound would warn the  upper castes, to take a different path!

It was the social renaissance heralded by the Guru, amongst others, that has transformed this society into one with the most progressive values in the country today. In the process, Kerala society has achieved such advances in its human development indices that it matches and, in some cases, outstrips the standards existing in the developed capitalist countries today. In the field of literacy, education, gender equality and other social parameters, Kerala proudly stands at the top on the  rest of India.

The Guru used spirituality as a propelling force for upward social mobility of the people. In this process, he developed a unique combination of materialism and spiritualism, propagating The Buddha’s preachings of the control over the Body, Word, Mind, Food and Deed.   The consecration of the Shiva Lingam in 1888 – the Aruvippuram Prathishta – remains a landmark that has gone way beyond being a symbolic gesture.

Yet another resonance with Marxist philosophy is the Guru’s emphasis on “freedom through education, strength through organisation, economic independence through industry”.  In a sense, this brings me to the point of urging all of you to explore further a thought: Spiritualism is  not to be confined within the boundaries of religion or religiosity.  Of course, there is religious spiritualism which could also be call Theistic spiritualism. On the other hand, there is also an Atheistic spiritualism. Here, spiritualism is understood as the elevation of human  consciousness to the levels of refined humanism.  Such elevation of human consciousness can be achieved as much by a materialist philosophy as it can be through a Theistic theology.  (This is a tautological term, but I am using it only to emphasise the point.)

The Guru’s philosophy spread far and wide beyond the confines of Kerala. I am told that Mahatma Gandhi came here thrice during our freedom movement.  Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore came to meet the Guru in 1922. This surely was a meeting of minds.  Tagore had by then penned the Nobel Prize winning immortal lines to awaken India: “Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high; Where knowledge is free; Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;”.

The Guru’s teachings and personal example appear to be not merely relevant but more necessary to meet the challenges before us today.  On the one hand, the material basis of  existence for the vast mass of our people and the country, as a consequence of embracing the neo-liberal policy trajectory by the Indian ruling classes, is deteriorating. Unless material needs are satisfied, the growth of spiritualism leading to social renaissance and, therefore, to cultural renaissance would be simply impossible.  The economic policies followed  by the current government at the Centre and, to a large extent, by the government in Kerala, only buttress such material regression of our people’s lives.  These policies need to be resisted and reversed.  This is one focus of CPI(M)’s activities today.

On the other hand, the CPI(M)’s other focus is against the growing communal polarization and the vicious pursuit of consolidating the Hindutva  communal vote bank politics which is leading to severe ruptures in our society that can well destroy the unity and integrity of India.  Under the present Central government, both these aspects of anti-people economic reforms and communal polarization constitute its singular agenda.  In the process, the communal forces even make an attempt to forcibly appropriate the Guru’s philosophy and legacy.

This, simply, cannot be allowed. Such efforts, in particular, have to be defeated in order to carry ourselves to higher levels of social and material existence as envisaged and propagated by the Guru.  The efforts to replace the  rich Indian history with Hindu theology and the evolution of the syncretic Indian philosophy with a monolithic Hindu theology will have to be resisted and defeated.

I wish the Srinarayana Guru Mutt all success in its efforts to relentlessly continue to propagate the Guru’s philosophy  and vision of the `oneness of humanity’ and not permit any effort at hijacking this rich legacy to serve the narrow ends of communal forces.

Thank you once again for giving me this honour of sharing some of my thoughts at this sacred Srinarayana Guru Mutt.

The CPI(M) Decided To Forging class and mass struggles on economic and social issues to widen the Party

01 Friday Jan 2016

Posted by in CPI(M), Current Affairs, INDIA, Left politics, NATIONAL NEWS

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

The five-day CPI(M) Plenum which was held at Kolkota From 27 December to 31,2015, after a gap of 37 years to revamp the party organisation ended  Thursday. The  Plenum on organisation, convened as directed by the  CPI(M) 21st Party Congress, held at Visakhapatnam last year.

CPI(M) Resolved to strengthen and streamline  Party’s organisational
capacities to meet the current challenges by unleashing mightier peoples
struggles to develop the independent strength of  Party in conformity
with party adopted political-tactical line. This line is aimed at changing
the correlation of class forces amongst the Indian people in favour of the
Left and Democratic Front, the precursor to the Peoples Democratic Front
and advance towards the successful culmination of the People?s Democratic
Revolution.

In order to accomplish this, the Plenum decided according party official media release said, To rapidly increase CPI(M) independent strength by adopting a mass
line and party intervention capacities, strengthen Left unity and to forge
the Left and Democratic Front not only as an electoral front but as a
fighting alliance of forces for an economic, social and political change
by isolating the reactionary ruling classes.
To effectively implement united front tactics to discharge the
dual tasks of unity and struggle by developing joint movements, enabling
us to approach sections of the exploited classes who currently are under
the influence of bourgeois parties.
To employ flexible tactics to deal with swift changes that may
occur in the political situation in accordance with our Political-Tactical
Line.
To set up joint platforms with various social movements, peoples
mobilizations and issue based movements.
To dovetail electoral tactics to the primacy of building the Left
and Democratic Front.

To strengthen class and mass struggles by:
1. Forging a broad front of agricultural workers, poor peasants, middle
peasants, rural workers in the non-farm sections, artisans and other
sections of the rural poor against the landlord-rural rich nexus.
2. Organising workers in key and strategic industries; organising contract
workers in both the organized and unorganized sectors; establishing
area-based organisations in coordination with between trade unions, youth,
women etc.
3. Organising the urban poor in the bastis/local areas; establishing
occupation based neighbourhood-mohallah-basti committees.
4. Strengthening work amongst the middle classes particularly ideological
work by the establishment of various fora like citizens forums, platforms
to promote cultural activities/actions; scientific temper and others
related to their life and work. Strengthening work in residential
associations, pensioners associations and professional bodies.

Through these methods, the Plenum decided that the CPI(M) must:

Strengthen  links with the Indian people to empower ourselves
to unleash mightier mass and class struggles.
Effectively adopt and implement the mass line of the Party to
ensure the establishment of such live links with the people.
Focus on advancing the Agrarian Revolution, the axis of the
Democratic revolution, by forging unity in struggles of all rural
exploited sections of people.
Strengthen efforts to develop the worker-peasant alliance.Focus mainly on
1.       Forging class and mass struggles on economic and social issues to widen
the Party?s influence and to rally the Left and democratic forces.
2.       Adopting a mass line and establish live links with the people.
3.       Streamlining the organisation to build a revolutionary Party with
quality membership of high quality.
4.       Making special efforts to attract youth to the Party.
5.       Waging the ideological struggle against communalism, neo-liberalism and
reactionary ideologies.

The Plenum also decided that:All these tasks must be implemented in a time-bound manner beginning from
the Party C.C. Centre. State Committees must concretise such time-bound
implementation plans and review them in a year time.

The Plenum redoubled the CPI(M)?s resolve by stating:

No social transformation is possible, in fact, cannot be conceived
without the vast mass of people belonging to all exploited classes rising
in revolt against the exploiting ruling classes. In the final analysis it
is the people who make history. Revolutionary history is no exception. A
revolutionary Party, the CPI(M), must emerge as the vanguard of this
peoples upsurge. This is our historic responsibility.

Let us redouble our resolve, at this plenum, to advance towards
discharging this responsibility!

Forward towards a stronger CPI(M) with an all India mass base!

Forward towards a revolutionary Party with a Mass Line!

With the unanimous adoption of the Report on Organisation and the
Resolution on Organisation, the Plenum on Organisation came to a
successful conclusion On Thursday.

A total of 191 amendments and suggestions were received to the Draft
Report on Organisation, of which 36 were accepted. There were 73
amendments and suggestions to the Draft Resolution on Organisation, of
which 6 were accepted.

Polit Bureau Member Prakash Karat replied to the discussion on the Draft
Report on Organisation while General Secretary Sitaram Yechury replied to
the discussion on the Draft Resolution on Organisation.

On behalf of the Plenum, Chairperson of the Presidium, Manik Sarkar
thanked the West Bengal State Committee and through it the entire
membership of the Party in West Bengal for the excellent arrangements that
were made for the success of the Plenum.

The second day of the CPI(M)  Plenum on Organisation  began at the
Promode Dasgupta  Bhawan 28th morning at 11.00 a.m. with the introduction
of the Draft Resolution on Organisation by General Secretary Sitaram
Yechury.

The draft lays down the need to strengthen and streamline the Party organisational capacities to meet the current challenges by unleashing
mightier peoples struggles to develop the independent strength of the
Party in conformity with the political-tactical line adopted at the 21st
Congress of the Party. The Congress held at Vishakapattanam in April 2015,
had laid stress on forging the Left and Democratic Front.

The Draft Resolution underlined the imperative to vastly develop the
organisational capacities of the Party to enable it to accomplish these
revolutionary objectives and emerge as the political party of the vast
majority of the exploited classes in the objective situation of the world
capitalist crisis and intensified exploitation. Domestically, the CPI(M)
has an alternative policy framework which will enable the Indian people
to realise their inherent potential and create a better India on that
basis. As also because, the CPI(M) is the only political party that
offers the Indian youth a vision of a better future. which puts forward
alternative policies to marshal our country resources to provide our
youth with quality education, good health and sustainable employment.

Sitaram Yechury underscored the fact that the CPI(M) is a consistent
political force that advocates and struggles for the unity of
multi-religious, multi-lingual, multi-cultural, multi-ethnic population
against all efforts at sharpening communal polarisation and thwarting the
RSS/BJP designs to impose their project of a rabidly intolerant fascistic
Hindu Rashtra.

Towards achieveing these tasks the Draft calls upon the Party to take up
social issues in a big way, while simultaneously taking up the issues of
economic exploitation and social oppression the two feet upon which
stands the advance of class struggles in India. Among the social issues
identified for taking up by the entire Party are the championing the
struggle against gender oppression, discrimination against the dalits,
tribals, disabled and religious minorities.

The draft also outlines the various methods that need to be employed to
expand the influence of the Party and strengthening the Party organization
as its vision can only be materailised if the organisational capacities of
the Party are strengthened enormously.

A total of 62 delegates participated in the discussion over three days.

,
Observe the Centenary Year of the Great October Socialist Revolution

A separate resolution to Observe the Centenary Year of the Great October
Socialist Revolution? was also moved in the morning session. The  resolution was moved by M.A. Baby and was seconded by R. Arun Kumar.

Commemorate the Centenary Year of the Great October Socialist Revolution
This Plenum on Organisation reiterates with emphasis our 21st Congress
resolution on the centenary of the Russian revolution that called for
‘celebrations to commemorate the centenary year in all-round way’,
beginning November 7, 2016 by organising events ‘in the political,
ideological, and cultural spheres’, and ‘to conduct a campaign to
propagate socialism’.
The Great October Revolution had for the first time in human history,
resoundingly vindicated Marxism-Leninism through the establishment of a
proletarian State. Led by the immortal Lenin and the Bolshevik party, it
has proved that the exploitative capitalist order can be overthrown by the
working class led mass of the exploited people and vindicated the analysis
of Marx. The October Revolution is an eternal example of the application
of the creative science of Marxism-Leninism, whose living essence is the
‘concrete analysis of the concrete conditions’.
The October Revolution continues to teach many important lessons to the
world communist movement ? the importance of worker-peasant alliance, the
indispensable role of the vanguard Party steeled on the principles of
democratic centralism, proletarian discipline and having live links with
the masses  that remain valid.


The October Revolution has immense achievements to its credit. It
eliminated exploitation of man by man by establishing socialism in the
USSR; guaranteed satisfaction of all the basic necessities of human beings
food, clothing and shelter; enriched and enhanced human life by taking
care of all citizens  from cradle to grave; for the first time in human
history. It completely eliminated illiteracy and ensured universal access
to education; freed women from domestic chores to a large extent and
ensured equal rights. It in fact gave women equal participation in the
political process well before many capitalist countries had done and thus
enabled them to play an active role in the economic and social development
of the society. It secured the rights of the working class, involved them
in administration, improved their work conditions, ensured sufficient
leisure and guaranteed their post-retirement future. It eliminated
unemployment and poverty. It encouraged scientific research and innovation
for the welfare of the entire society, guaranteed advanced universal
health care and made great advances in the field of sports.
This Plenum, while resolving to propagate these and many more achievements
of the first socialist State, is conscious of the many mistakes committed
during socialist construction. The Party will continue to learn from them.
The observance of this event assumes all the more importance today, when
there is an intense attack on the validity of Marxism and on the very
concept of socialism. In many East European countries, attempts are on to
ban communist parties and even the usage of communist and Soviet-era
symbols. There is a deliberate attempt to falsify history, negate the
myriad achievements of the former socialist countries and even equate
socialism with fascism and Nazism.
It is upon us, as adherents of Marxism-Leninism, to use this occasion to
counter this slanderous campaign and re-assert that socialism is the only
path ahead for humankind that ensures a world free of exploitation,
oppression, environmental degradation and guarantees real freedom and
liberty. It is upon us to establish that socialism is not a utopian dream,
but a necessity that has to be realised.
This Organisational Plenum of the CPI(M) resolves to observe the centenary
year of the Great October Socialist Revolution to not only educate its
entire rank and file, but also engage the people at large by involving all
the intellectuals, littrateurs, sympathisers and well-wishers of the Left
by organising debates, discussions, seminars, symposiums, exhibitions and
various other forms all across India, highlighting the contribution of the
Great October Socialist Revolution in:
influencing the Indian national movement by inspiring generations of
freedom fighters like Bhagat Singh, Jawaharalal Nehru, Muzaffar Ahmed, and
many others; nationalist poets like Rabindranath Tagore Subrahmanyam
Bharati, Nazrul Islam and social activists like Periyar and others; its
impact on the masses and the consciousness levels of many young freedom
fighters who were influenced by its ideology that led them to the
Communist Party and to the formation of various mass and class
organisations, galvanising the socialist current in the freedom struggle;
defeating fascism, signaled by the hosting of the Red Flag over
Reichstag on May 9, 1945 by the soldiers of the Red Army of the USSR and
thus contributing to the sustained peace in the world;    bringing an end to the colonial world by openly siding with the various
liberation movements across the world that eventually led to the freedom
of various countries in Asia and Africa and in standing as a bulwark
against imperialist aggression and attempts to  trample upon national
sovereignty through neo-colonialism;
furthering the frontiers of science and technology, particularly by
successfully sending the first artificial satellite, Sputnik and first
human being Yuri Gagarin into space, which paved the way for the
subsequent development of modern means of communication satellites,
opening up possibilities for an in-depth study of earth, its surrounding
atmosphere and in many other areas;
developing peoples’ culture in contrast to the pursuit of culture as a
preserve of the elite, as can be discerned in various performing arts,
songs, music, drama, cinema, painting, literature, etc;
On the 7th November 2017, throughout the country, the culmination of the
observance of the centenary of the October Revolution should be done by
rallying people in large numbers to expose the danger of communal,
reactionary, divisive and separatist ideologies, by safeguarding and
advancing the unity of the toiling classes centered on the core of
worker-peasant alliance. The occasion should be used to propagate the
ideals of socialism and its necessity, particularly among the Indian
youth, at this juncture.
This Plenum resolves to observe the 100th Anniversary of the Great October
Socialist Revolution in a befitting manner, reiterating its commitment to
Marxism-Leninism and its profound belief that the future of humanity and
the world lies only in socialism.

Situation in West Bengal

This Plenum of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) notes with concern
the grave situation in West Bengal. The last four and a half year misrule
has totally discredited both the Trinamul Congress and the government
headed by it. Large scale resort to terror tactics, attacks on all
sections of people including atrocities on dalits and tribals, alarming
increase in sexual assaults on women, monumental corruption including the
chit fund scams, rampant misuse of government machinery for partisan ends,
abject failure to deliver on promises made during the elections etc have
utterly exposed the real face of the ruling party leading to a strong
discontent against it.

Its image having been severely dented and its political credibility at an
all time low, the Trinamul Congress is resorting to manipulative tactics
including whipping up of minority passions. It is doing so to regain lost
ground, with Assembly elections round the corner. In one way or the other,
the TMC continues to pander to fundamentalist forces to polarize voters.
This has created a fertile ground for fissiparous forces to thrive. Though
a tacit understanding with the central BJP leadership is actively
underway, the TMC has been implicitly encouraging minority fundamentalism
hoping to harvest votes in its favour. This has worsened the communal
divide in the state. Notorious criminals are being mobilized with the open
support of the police and the administration.

Under the short period of TMC rule, the economy has turned into doldrums
and industry into tatters. Peasant distress has reached alarming
proportions. There is an all out attack on the livelihood of the toiling
people and social security. Groaning unemployment, loss of jobs and total
anarchy in the health and education sectors has created an unbearable
situation. Added to this is the criminal indifference of the TMC
government to the continuing starvation deaths of the closed tea garden
workers and the 134 peasant suicides so far.

Displaying its utter contempt for democracy, the ruling party resorted to
loot of votes unleashing indiscriminate terror during the municipal
elections held in April and October this year. Even journalists from the
mainstream media were not spared from attacks. The fascistic terror of the
TMC in collusion with the police and hoodlums is continuing unabated. The
leaders of the Left Front, Left MLAs, the other opposition leaders and
even the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Surjya Kanta Mishra had
to face violent attacks of the organized gangsterism indulged in by the
ruling party. Normal political activity is being undermined by the
draconian measures taken by the TMC government. Recently, even the
Calcutta High Court was compelled to comment that the ?law and order
situation has collapsed? in the state.

So far 171 Left Front supporters including 164 CPI(M) cadres and leaders
have been mercilessly killed by the TMC goons.  The perpetrators of these
heinous crimes are roaming freely with the full knowledge of the police
and the administration. Countless number of cases of extortion and
forcible occupation of properties of the common people has been reported
in the media. Apart from the over one lakh Left cadres and supporters
facing many forms of persecution, the intensive terror has been extended
to people from all walks of life. This is further exposing the ruling
party in the eyes of the common people.

The sustained movement that our Party and the Left is conducting is
drawing increasing support from the people. This campaign and movement
will be intensified from January 2016, immediately after the Plenum.

This Plenum of the CPI(M) salutes the heroic resistance movement by the
people of West Bengal against the unprecedented terror and in defence of
democracy and secularism. The plenum welcomes the determination of the
Left and democratic forces to work for the defeat of the authoritarian
rule of the Trinamul Congress as also further isolating the dangerous
communal forces led by the BJP.

Resolution on Tripura

Tripura, a small state in north-east, has evolved into an exemplary
dynamic developing state under the Left Front government. With its
pro-people policies, Left Front government has not only developed the
quality of life of the people of the state, but also showed what
alternative policies can be pursued even with limited resources.

Tripura has had a Left Front government since 1978. In the first two terms
of the Left Front government, there were two particularly major
achievements: the implementation of land reforms and the setting up of the
Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council under the sixth schedule
of the constitution which empowered the tribal people. The break during
1988-93 after a rigged election and a period of semi-fascist terror, Left
Front has come back and won all subsequent elections with greater
confidence expressed by the people. The last 22 years have witnessed
remarkable development of the state.

Tripura has become a model for combating extremism and terrorism. Once
mutilated by extremist violence, financed and promoted by imperialist
agencies, Tripura has emerged an example of unity of the people and peace.
This has been achieved not merely by administrative determination alone,
but also with political mobilization of people and development activities
in the tribal areas in particular.

Deepening political democracy, with decentralized municipalities,
panchayats, village committees in ADC area, has contributed to the
enthusiastic participation of the people in development activities.

The record of the Left Front government in many areas of development,
particularly in human development is no less than outstanding. The
literacy rate in the state has reached to 97 per cent, among the highest
in the country. The female literacy rate is 95.71 per cent. With huge
expansion of school education, free text books, free studies up to college
level Tripura has virtually universalized education upto secondary stage.

Other Human Development indices reflect people?s the better quality of
life. Infant Mortality Rate in Tripura is 26 while the all-India average
is 40. Birth rate in the state is 13.7 per cent while it is 21.4 per cent
all-India, death rate has come down to 4.7 per cent while the national
average is 7.0 per cent. All these have been achieved despite backward
infrastructure and complex geography of the state.

Tripura has achieved food security with all families covered under PDS.
While majority of the population is being provided rice at Rs 2 per kg,
all other families are provided rice at APL rate.

Agriculture, forestry, fisheries, plantation and handicrafts have received
tremendous boost with multifarious projects of the state government. Along
with this, Tripura has retained its top position in implementing MNREGA .
In 20123-14, average man days in Tripura were 88 while all India average
was 46. In 2014-15, the average man days in Tripura was 88 again, while
all India average has come down to 38 only. In a first of its kind, people
belonging to BPL families in urban area are provided wage employment for
at least 75 days a year. Tripura also tops in giving land rights under
Forest Right Act. 124541 persons have been given land pattas , of whom 99
per cent are tribals.

Despite severe difficulties, the Left Front government has taken long
strides in infrastructural development.  More than 90 per cent of the
total of 8,312 habitations is electrified. More than 95 per cent of
irrigatable land has been brought under irrigation facilities. Road
network has reached to remote areas making communications far more
smoother than ever imagined.

In the face of neo liberal attacks on peoples? livelihood and scarce
resources, the Left Front government has stood beside the poor workers of
unorganized sector and the needy and vastly expanded social security. In
Tripura, state government is administering 27 pension schemes including
those for female domestic workers, disabled, widows, deserted women,
rickshaw pullers, barbers, fishermen. It has also provided pension scheme
for transgender persons, AIDS affected persons. Several development
schemes are being implemented for SCs, OBCs and Muslim minorities.

Number of women elected  is a high 57 per cent in the local bodies which
is a reflection of women?s  increased participation in all spheres of
public life.

The sustained and planned efforts by the Left Front government has
provided the youth of the state with better opportunities for education
and employment, generating a visible new hope and pride among them.

Left Front government, conscious of the fact that it is working within the
limitations of all-India pro-corporate policies, unequal federal structure
and financial constraints, has tried to provide and project alternative
policies.  CPI(M), in its effort to provide pro-people alternative
policies for a better India hails the initiatives of Left Front government
in Tripura as inspiring.

There is no room for complacency. Reactionary forces within and outside
Tripura are out to create trouble through disturbing the tribal and
non-tribal unity which is the bedrock of Tripura?s outstanding
advancement.  Therefore, there is need of vigilance through mobilisation
of masses to prevent any sort of conspiracy.

The people of Tripura, both in rural and urban areas, have reposed great
trust and confidence in the CPI(M) and Left Front in successive elections,
including those in the recent past. The Plenum of CPI(M) expresses its
solidarity with the people and Left Front government of Tripura and calls
upon all Party units to project these achievements to people in every
corner of the country.

 

 

 

NDA should focus on public investment, not serve interests of capital

17 Thursday Dec 2015

Posted by in CPI(M), Current Affairs, Left politics, NATIONAL NEWS

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

  • Sitaram Yechury

Wither BJP’s electoral promise of providing ‘maximum governance; minimum government’? The Delhi chief minister’s office was raided by the CBI. Even if we were to accept the central government’s argument that this was done as part of the investigations against allegations of high-level corruption involving senior bureaucrats, how this could happen without the elected Delhi chief minister even being informed, leave alone consulted, is perplexing.

A similar yardstick is, however, not employed as far as the BJP’s state governments of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are concerned. We have seen this BJP government appointing known RSS pracharaks as governors. The state chief ministers are not consulted but merely ‘informed’ of this. Result: the Parliament session continues to be disrupted.

The central government goes on repeating ad nauseum that the opposition parties are not allowing the GST legislation to be passed, preventing healthy economic growth and prosperity of our people. There are serious objections that continue to remain unresolved regarding negation of all rights of state governments to raise resources and thereby reduce them to be mere recipients of the central government’s largesse.

Leaving aside the BJP’s opposition to the introduction of the GST during the last decade, even if this BJP government was interested in evolving a consensus on this issue, then it would have discussed this with the Opposition parties. Till date however, not a single all-party meeting was convened by this government to discuss this. The GST is not an issue to be settled merely between the BJP and the Congress.

But, the Indian economy is fast moving into a state of classical deflation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP government continue to remain in a state of denial over the truth of our economy’s decline.

On the basis of highly dubious data-series, our GDP growth rate has been inflated. The government maintains that the real GDP growth rate is currently 7.4% while the nominal growth rate is 5.2%. This apparent anomaly arises because the government has claimed that the Wholesale Price Index has fallen by 2.2%. As far as the people are concerned, what is important is the Retail Price Index which continues to soar. Therefore, as people’s livelihood conditions deteriorate, the government propagates a fabricated high GDP growth rate.

However, capitalist calculations are always based on profitability directly related to the nominal growth rate and not the real growth rate. The Reserve Bank of India statistics for July-September 2015 on the performance of 2,711 companies shows that sales have declined by minus 4.6%, value of production by minus 5.6% and the expenditures by a minus 18.7%.

Further, the services sector (biggest GDP share) has shown a fall in net profit of a huge minus 33.9%. Clearly, investment and consumption have not picked up despite the RBI cutting the interest rates during 2015.

Gross domestic capital formation has shown a sharp decline. This means investment in the economy is declining. Further, the banking credit to industry declined by nearly 5%. Growth in manufacturing should reflect in the growth of bank credit.

All this means that employment generation in the industrial sector is on the decline, when 12 million new job seekers are added every year. According to the labour ministry’s 26th quarterly employment survey, employment in the manufacturing and export-oriented sectors fell to a four quarter low during the three months ending June 30. Most employment intensive sectors have shown a decline — 43,000 jobs from the previous quarter. Compare this with the election promise of generating an additional 25 million jobs every year.

Our exports have fallen drastically by 17.6% between April and October 2015. This is the eleventh straight month of exports reduction. FDI avenues have been recklessly enlarged, without ensuring that they will bring in investments that will increase the productive capacities of the Indian economy, skills, technology and jobs. FDI is being permitted to maximise its profits, exploiting India’s mineral, natural resources and cheap labour, with no corresponding benefits to the Indian economy and people.

The increased debt burden is forcing our farmers to commit distress suicides. There is a sharp deterioration in living standards in rural India. The growth rate of rural wages fell from 17.5% in August 2014 to 3.8% in August 2015. The agricultural ministry says the sowing area in the current rabi season is down by 18% overall. For the wheat crop, it is down by 28%, 9% for pulses and 12% pulses for oil seeds. The agricultural growth rate of a measly 0.2% in 2014-15 could well fall to a negative.

If all legitimate taxes are collected, instead of being doled out as tax concessions to foreign and domestic capital, a huge amount of revenue would be available for new and high doses of public investment. Such public investment is the only way, through which all developed economies in the world, from the US to the People’s Republic of China, have built their infrastructure, both economic and social.

If this were to be done, then India’s woeful infrastructure situation would be considerably improved. Such public investment would generate large scale new employment. This, in turn, would put the purchasing power in the hands of the people thus, expanding our domestic demand — the surest impetus for manufacturing and industrial growth.

This BJP government, however, appear undaunted. Pre-occupied with media headline management, it has employed a strategy of seeking to divert people’s attention away from growing economic burdens, by moving from one event to another while relentlessly pursuing the real RSS agenda of sharpening communal polarisation.

[Marxistindia] CPI(M) General SEcretary Sitaram Yechury’s
column in       the Hindustan Times on 15th December

LOK SABHA ADJOURNED REPEATEDLY OVER CPI-M MEMBER’S REMARKS

30 Monday Nov 2015

Posted by in BJP, CPI(M), Current Affairs, Left politics, NATIONAL NEWS

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, ,

Lok Sabha adjourned repeatedly over CPI-M member's remarks

Parliament House of India

Communist Party of India (Marxist) on recent political developments

18 Wednesday Nov 2015

Posted by in CPI(M), Left politics, NATIONAL NEWS

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) met in New
Delhi from November 13 to 16, 2015. It has issued the following statement:

Bihar Elections
The people of Bihar have given a resounding defeat to the BJP alliance in the assembly elections. They have rejected the rank communal campaign conducted by the BJP, led by the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah duo with divisive issues including prescribing eating habits of the people and the bogey of reservations for minorities etc.This Bihar verdict should strengthen the fight against the rightwing communal forces all over the country.The campaign by the United Left bloc including the CPI(M), CPI and CPI(ML)-Liberation was well received by the people of Bihar.  The CPI(ML) won three seats.

Kerala Panchayat Elections
The verdict of the people in the elections to the local bodies in Kerala is
a rejection of the UDF government?s anti-people record and corruption. The
people have also rebuffed the communal politics of the BJP and its efforts
to rally leaders of caste-based organisations.The Central Committee congratulated the people of Kerala for reposing such faith in the LDF. The LDF campaigned unitedly and directly took up issues with the people.

Punjab Developments

The Central Committee expressed serious concern over the ominous political
developments taking place in Punjab, which are gravely disrupting peace and
communal harmony in the state. The failure of Badal Government in capturing
the culprits responsible for the desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib and
its inept handling of mass protests leading to the death of two Sikh youth
in police firing, is providing ammunition to Sikh fundamentalists and
pro-Khalisthani elements.

Economic Situation

PM Modi has unilaterally announced measures to further facilitate the loot
of Indian resources and markets by vastly enhancing the access of foreign
capital into India. All these decisions have been taken on the eve of the
winter session of the Parliament.  Worse they have been taken even without
the Cabinet approval.  This is a complete travesty of our system of
parliamentary democracy. PM Modi made these announcements with an aim to
appease foreign capital prior to his foreign visits.

Further Economic Burdens on the People

This license to loot for foreign capital comes at a time when the majority
of the Indian people continue to groan under newer economic burdens. Price
rise of essential commodities continues unabated. The prices of ?dal?, an
essential source of protein nutrition for the vast majority of the Indian
people, have risen beyond their reach. The prices of all other essential
commodities continue to rise.The agrarian distress is deepening. The announced MSP increases are so meagre that they do not even cover the production costs. This is
accelerating the distress suicides of our farmers.The latest data shows that compared to a 6.4 per cent growth rate last month
the index of industrial production has now fallen to 3.6 per cent.
Consequently, the growth rate of the manufacturing sector, the main
generator of jobs, has fallen from 6.9 per cent to 2.6 per cent. Appeasing
foreign capital under these conditions cannot translate automatically into
GDP growth. This is because the purchasing power in the hands of the Indian
people is sharply declining, leading to the contraction of domestic demand.

The staple daal roti has gone beyond the reach of the common people. On top
of this, petrol and diesel prices have been hiked once again.  Various
railway charges are increased.  A cess for `Swach Bharat?  has been imposed.

In this background whatever little relief that was being provided to the
Indian people through schemes like the Rural Employment Guarantee are also
being drastically cut.

Growing Communalisation And Intellectuals? Protest

All across India, communal tensions are being sharply escalated by the
RSS/BJP outfits.  Particularly in the run up to the Bihar elections, such
tensions were intensified.

Given the patronage by the BJP Central and state governments and the refusal
by PM Modi to take any action, various outfits of the RSS are being
emboldened by the day to mount such attacks that seek to undermine the
secular democratic foundations of our country and create widespread
insecurity amongst the religious minorities.

Protests by Intellectuals

The growing intolerance and the spread of hatred across the country has led,
amongst other violent attacks, to the murders of rationalist thinkers. A
large number of award winning litt?rateurs have returned their Sahitya
Academy and other recognition of excellence awards to the government in
protest.

They have been joined by internationally reputed historians, film and
theatre personalities. Hundreds of Indian scientists of international repute
have joined this form of protest. Such action by Indian intellectuals,
scientists and creative artists strengthens the resolve of all Indians who
cherish the secular democratic foundations of our Republic to defend our
country and people?s unity.

Left Parties Call

The six Left parties, CPI(M), CPI, CPI(ML)-Liberation, AIFB, RSP & SUCI (C)
have given a call to launch a nationwide campaign against the communal hate
offensive spearheaded by the RSS and patronized by this BJP led government,
from 1st to 6th December, 2015.

The Central Committee called upon all Party units to organise protests all
over the country.

Paris Attacks

The Central Committee of the CPI(M) strongly condemned the terror attacks
in Paris.  These recent spate of terror attacks in Baghdad, Beirut and now
Paris clearly indicate the mushrooming of such terrorist groups as a counter
to US/NATO military operations in Syria and military interventions elsewhere
in West Asia.

The Central Committee of the CPI(M) deeply mourns the death of innocent
people in these terror attacks and condemns such barbaric terror.

Myanmar

The Central Committee congratulated the National League for Democracy (NLD)
led by Aung San Su Kyi for winning a record three-fourths of the seats in
the elections in Myanmar. This emphatic expression for the restoration of
democracy in Myanmar is indeed historic for the people of that country and
will have an impact in the region.

Nepal

The Central Committee congratulated the people of Nepal for the adoption of
the secular Republican constitution. K.P Oli of the CPN(UML) was elected
Prime Minister and  Bidhya Devi Bhandari also of the CPN(UML) elected
President.

The opposition to this Constitution by certain Madhesi groups, supported by
Indian Hindutva organisations is resulting in violent protests in some parts
of this area. The virtual blockading of the border between India and Nepal
in many border points by the BJP central government is having a crippling
effect on Nepal. Consequently, anti-India sentiments have sharply escalated
in Nepal.  The Central Committee demands that the Indian Government must
immediately restore the movement of goods and supplies to Nepal.

Bangladesh

The Central Committee expressed serious concern at the growing
fundamentalist attacks in Bangladesh. There are contesting reports. On the
one hand the activity of the ISIS is reportedly growing and on the other the
Awami League government alleges that the rival opposition BNP and its
Islamic fundamentalist allies are whipping up such attacks as a part of
their agenda to destablise the present government.

These developments however have a very strong impact on the neighbouring
states in India particularly West Bengal and Assam.

The Central Committee finalized the Draft Report on Organisation to be sent
to all State Committees. The Central Committee will meet on December 26 and
finalise the report to be presented to the Plenum beginning December 27,
2015 at Kolkata.

Massive preparations through state wide jathas and mass contact programmes
are underway in West Bengal to make this plenum a big success.

CPI(M) opposes further opening up of FDI in India

13 Friday Nov 2015

Posted by in CPI(M), Current Affairs, Economics, Left politics

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly condemns the announcement by the Prime Minister easing the regulations for Foreign Direct Investments in our country.  15 areas, including single brand retail, banking, construction, media, airlines, defence, banking, plantations etc., are to be opened up for approval under the automatic route.  32 new investment points will now allow FDI automatically.  The cap for approval of foreign investments has been raised to Rs. 5,000 crore from the existing Rs. 3,000 crores. The increase in the FDI to 49 per cent for news channels and radio is particularly harmful as it will facilitate near complete control of the news media by foreign media monopolies.

All these decisions have been taken on the eve of the winter session of the Parliament.  Worse they have been taken even without the Cabinet approval.  This is a complete travesty of our system of parliamentary democracy.  The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) condemns such unilateral decisions by the PM.

Clearly, these announcements have come on the eve of Prime Minister Modi’s yet another programme of foreign tours to London, G-20, Malaysia and Singapore.  PM Modi made these announcements with an aim to appease foreign capital.  Thus both India’s markets and resources are being opened up further for the maximization of profits for foreign capital.

This license to loot comes at a time when the majority of the Indian people continue to groan under newer economic burdens. Price rise of essential commodities continues unabated. The agrarian distress is deepening.  The increases in the minimum support prices are so meagre that they do not even cover the production costs.  This is accelerating the distress suicides of our farmers.

The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) calls upon PM Modi and his government to focus attention on providing relief to the vast majority of our Indian people as promised during the 2014 election campaign.