[Marxistindia] CC Communique

[news from the cpi(m)]

June 24, 2018

 

Press Communique

 

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) met in New
Delhi from June 22 to 24, 2018. It has issued the following statement:

 

CC Lauds Kerala LDF Govt.

 

The Central Committee congratulated the LDF government in Kerala for the
manner in which they could contain the dreaded Nipah virus from spreading.
The efforts of the state government have earned accolades from international
agencies including the World Health Organisation. 

 

Four Years of Modi Government

 

The Central Committee took stock of the four years of the Modi Government.
These four years of Modi Government has seen unprecedented attacks on
people's livelihood, the sharpening of communal polarization accompanied by
murderous assaults on Muslims and the Dalits, severe undermining of
institutions of parliamentary democracy and independent constitutional
authorities. 

 

The relentless rise in the prices of petroleum products apart from burdening
crores of consumers is leading to a cascading inflationary spiral with the
inflation rate now going up despite the weak economic activity as a
consequence of demonetization and GST. During these four years the BJP
government had hiked the excise duty on petroleum products eleven times.

 

Agrarian distress continues to mount with no respite in the distress
suicides of the farmers. Consequent to the big agitations and militant
movements by the peasantry the BJP governments in various states had made
several promises but none of these have been implemented. A further round of
militant actions and struggles are in the offing. 

 

There is an alarming increase in the overall atmosphere of hate engendering
violence across the country especially in BJP ruled states. Apart from the
violence perpetrated by private armies in the name of `cow protection' and
`moral policing', incidents of mob lynchings and horrendous gang rapes and
murders of minors are on the rise. The latest is the gruesome gangrape of
five women in Jharkhand. The BJP state government refused to register a case
and punish the guilty. This amounts to patronizing such private armies, thus
encouraging the dehumanization of our society. 

 

There is a complete breakdown of law and order under the BJP government.
People's constitutional rights are being allowed to be violated with
impunity.

 

The Central Committee called upon all Party units to organize protest
actions on these issues.

 

Loot of Public Money

 

The Central Committee took note of the massive loot of public money by
certain corporate houses. In addition to the over 2.5 lakh crore waiving off
of defaulting loans by corporates from public sector banks in the first
three years of the Modi government, it is now reported that an additional
Rs. 1,44,993 crores were written off. The Governor of the Reserve Bank of
India has now stated that the RBI is not equipped to monitor the over 1.6
lakh branches of the banks all across the country. The RBI is a regulator of
the Indian banking system and formulates the monetary policy for the
country. The central government must strengthen the RBI to discharge its
constitutional responsibility. It is clear that in the four years of this
Modi government massive loot of people's money is taking place and the
perpetrators are allowed to leave the country and the government remains
virtually a spectator. 

 

Atrocities Against Dalits

 

The Central Committee noted with serious concern that there has been a
concerted attack on organisations and individuals championing the rights of
Dalits and those who had participated in the April 2 all India bandh called
by various dalit organisations, particularly in BJP ruled states of Madhya
Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. 

 

The CC decided that the Party at all levels shall actively associate with
these protests and take these movements forward.

 

The CC demanded that a Bill should be introduced in the forthcoming session
of parliament, to nullify the effect of the Supreme Court judgment that
rendered the provisions of the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities (POA) Act
ineffective. In the interregnum an ordinance should be promulgated so that
the situation existing prior to the SC judgment is restored and the sense of
insecurity of these communities about their constitutional rights is
addressed. 

 

The RSS-BJP has coined a new terminology of "urban Maoists". Five activists
have so far been arrested under this garb for supporting the Dalit
agitation.  BJP state government of Maharashtra has also invoked the dreaded
UAPA.  The CC underlined that such actions will only lead to further the
alienation of the Dalits. 

 

Citizenship Act

 

The CC felt that the proposed amendment to the Citizenship Act on the basis
of religious affinity of the people is straining the already fragile unity
of the people in the state of Assam. Religious and linguistic minorities are
under severe pressure due to incomplete and deliberate discrimination in the
process of the updating of the national register of citizens (NRC) and the
category of doubtful voters.

 

The unity of the people belonging to different religions, languages and
ethnicity must be the foremost objective. Playing with emotive issues for
electoral gains by the BJP/RSS is worsening the situation.

 

The CPI(M) opposes any amendment based on the religious affiliation of the
people to determine their citizenship. 

 

 

Jammu & Kashmir:

Total Failure of BJP's Political Approach

 

Taking stock of the emerging situation in Jammu & Kashmir, the CC is of the
view that the decision of the BJP to withdraw from the coalition government
with the PDP in Jammu & Kashmir at this particular moment has the potential
of creating greater political instability in the state. It signifies the
total political failure of the BJP's approach in Jammu & Kashmir.

 

This alliance was untenable since the beginning. It was an alliance between
forces that never saw eye to eye on any issue but came together in an act of
sheer opportunism to share the spoils of office.

 

The BJP was party to all decisions of the state government during the past
three years and hence cannot absolve any responsibility for contributing to
a further deterioration in the state and towards deepening the alienation of
the people. 

 

The central government should implement the assurances it had made earlier
to urgently enforce confidence building measures and start a political
process through dialogue with all stakeholders. The Central Government must
initiate talks with Pakistan to ensure cross border terrorism is stopped by
a mutually agreed ceasefire along the Line of Control. The situation in
Jammu & Kashmir cannot be allowed to deteriorate further.

 

With Governor's rule now imposed, there is a widespread apprehension that
the RSS-BJP will embark on a more hardline position under the pretext of
combating terrorism.  There are apprehensions of growing dangers of human
rights abuses and violations of democratic rights of the people.  The effort
appears to be to sharpen communal polarisation not only in Jammu & Kashmir
but to aid the process of consolidating the Hindutva communal vote bank
elsewhere in the country in the run-up to the general elections.

 

Assembly & Bye-Election Results

 

The BJP has suffered a setback in the recently held elections to the
Karnataka assembly as well as the other bye elections to the Lok Sabha and
assemblies. Out of the total fourteen seats it has been able to win only
two. Of the bye-elections to four Lok Sabha constituencies held last month
the BJP was able to win in Palghar (Maharashtra only) in a five cornered
contest.  Out of the ten assembly bye-elections it could win only one. Its
defeat in Kairana in Uttar Pradesh is significant as it follows its earlier
defeat in the bye-elections in its sitting Phulpur and Gorakhpur Lok Sabha
seats. In Kairana the RLD candidate was backed by the Congress, SP & the
BSP.

 

Kerala: The Central Committee congratulated the CPI(M) & the LDF in Kerala
for retaining the Chengannur assembly constituency by a big majority of
20,956 votes, in the bye-election held following the death of our sitting
legislator. The LDF got 36.37 per cent of the polled votes in 2016 while it
is 44.2 cent now. While the UDF performance remained more or less the same
the BJP's vote share reduced from 29.26 to 23.19 per cent. 

 

Karnataka Elections: In the recently held elections to the Karnataka
assembly, the Congress lost its sitting government.  People's verdict
delivered a hung assembly. Though the BJP with 36.2 per cent of the polled
votes came out as the single largest party, the Congress-JD(S) combine which
fought the elections separately together polled 56.6 per cent. 

 

The CPI(M) candidate in Bagepalli constituency, G V Sreerama Reddy, came
second polling 51,697 votes as compared to 35,472 polled in 2013.

 

The BJP/RSS's attempts to cobble a majority through horse-trading were
thwarted and a JD(S)-Congress government has assumed office. In the light of
the obnoxious role played by the Governor in this as well in other instances
over the last four years, the demand for abolition of this office needs to
be reiterated.

 

 

Further Cementing Military Ties with USA

 

In preparation for the two plus two Indo-US dialogue (foreign and defence
ministers of both countries) in Washington next month, India is negotiating
the draft Communications, Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA).
Overriding some defence ministry reservations that fear US intrusive access
to Indian military communication systems, the Modi government is proceeding
to further strengthen its status of a subordinate ally of US imperialism.
This comes after the strategic defense agreement, Logistics Exchange
Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA). The CPI(M)strongly protests against such
surrender of India's sovereignty.

 

Division of Responsibilities

 

The Central Committee decided on the division of responsibilities amongst
the Polit Bureau and Central Committee members. It also finalized the road
map for the implementation of the tasks before the Party as decided by the
22nd Party Congress.

 

CC Calls

 

Mazdoor-Kisan Rally: The Central Committee extended its support to the joint
call for a march to parliament on September 5 given by the working class and
the peasant organisations including agricultural labour. The Party also
extended its support to the signature campaign and the joint worker-peasant
jail bharo on August 9.

 

Campaign for Urgent Electoral Reforms: The Central Committee decided to
conduct a nationwide campaign and organize seminars/conventions/public
meetings demanding urgent electoral reforms. This will include the
propagation of the CPI(M) stand for proportional representation with partial
list system in the elections, curbing the growing influence of money power
and the deepening of an atmosphere of hate creating animosity among
different sections of our people which needs to be checked through proper
changes in the existing electoral system. This campaign will also highlight
the need for making funding of political parties transparent and demand the
withdrawal of the electoral bonds introduced by the Modi government as also
the amendment made to the FCRA which is only legalizing political
corruption. This campaign for electoral reforms will be conducted in the
coming three months all across the country. 

 

The Central Committee decided to hold a national level protest against the
murder of democracy in the state of West Bengal and Tripura in the month of
July.

 

The Central Committee decided that on the grave situation emerging in Jammu
& Kashmir a national level convention will be organized for popular
interventions to restore peace and normalcy in the state. 

 

Cooption to CC

 

The 22nd Congress had directed the newly elected Central Committee to fill
up one vacancy in the Central Committee by a woman comrade. The Central
Committee decided to coopt A.R. Sindhu against this vacancy.

 

 

 

 

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