[Marxistindia] PB communique

[news from the cpi(m)]

September 26, 2018

Press Communique

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) which met on
September 26, 2018  at New Delhi has issued the following statement:

Kerala

The Polit Bureau appreciated the efforts being made by the LDF state
government in Kerala towards the relief and rehabilitation work of the
people affected by the unprecedented floods recently.

The CPI(M) calls upon the central government to immediately accede to the
demands made by the Chief Minister including the release, as a special
grant, of at least Rs. 5,000 crores towards meting the expenditures on
this score. The estimated damage is to the tune of Rs. 30,000 crores. The
CPI(M) on its part has collected and sent tens of crores of rupees to the
CM’s Relief Fund from all over the country.

Tripura

The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) condemns the continuing attacks on the
people being mounted by the BJP-IPFT state government. The recent local
body bye elections are a complete farce where opposition candidates were
not even allowed to file their nominations. There is a naked murder of
democracy that is happening in the state.


Mazdoor-Kisan Mobilisation

The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) hailed the massive participation of the
workers, farmers and agricultural works in the nationwide protest
programmes of August 9 jail bharo and the September 5 rally before
parliament in Delhi.


Aadhar Judgment

The CPI(M) has always maintained that Aadhar should not be mandatory for
any welfare scheme. The reality is that lakhs of poor are being denied
universal rights in the name of non-authentication of Aadhar. This renders
vulnerable crores of poor people whose existence is dependent upon the
accessibility to welfare schemes. Unfortunately, the majority judgment of
the Supreme Court continues to maintain Aadhar as mandatory.

The Supreme Court’s so-called safeguards will prove to be ineffective. The
benefits for the poor and marginalized sections can only be reached if
Aadhar is explicitly made non-mandatory. The CPI(M) will continue its
struggle on this score.

The apex court has ruled that private companies cannot have access to data
and Aadhar is not required for bank accounts, mobile connections,
admissions to educational institutions and entrance exams. While this may
provide some protection to right to privacy, a major problem arises when
this central government has privatized and outsourced to private companies
many government responsibilities. Such companies will have access to
Aadhar data. This is violative of the right to privacy – a fundamental
right - ruled by the apex court itself.

The CPI(M) welcomes the minority judgment of Justice Chandrachud who has
held that the passing of the Aadhar legislation in parliament as a money
bill is a fraud on the Constitution.

Rafael Scam

The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) reiterates that a Joint Parliamentary
Committee must immediately be constituted to probe this multi-crore rupee
scam. Revelations made by former French President Hollande, with whom this
deal was finalized by PM Modi, and the current President Macron indicate
that there are a large number of questions that need to be answered by the
Prime Minister himself. Why was this deal renegotiated? How as the public
sector HAL replaced by Reliance Defence of Anil Ambani? Is this not a
clear case of crony capitalism?

A scam of this dimension cannot go without accountability which must be
identified and apportioned by the Joint Parliamentary Committee. The BJP
on the one hand claims that the Raffle deal is fully transparent and there
is nothing pointing towards any sleaze, but on the other it is opposing
the constitution of a JPC, which is untenable. The JPC would enquire into
the commercial deal and not go into any defence related matters connected
with the purchase of this aircraft. Hence the misguided disinformation
that the JPC would compromise India’s security concerns is bogus.

The BJP needs to be made to recollect the position it had taken with
regard to the formation of the JPC to probe the Bofors scandal.

Alarming Rise in
Prices of Petroleum Products

The prices of petrol and diesel as also cooking gas and kerosene continue
to shoot up imposing unprecedented burdens on crores of people in our
country. This rise in prices of petroleum products is having a cascading
affect on the overall levels of inflation, sharply deteriorating the
living standards of the vast majority of our people.

Condemn this Harassment

The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) condemns the false cases and detention
under UAPA of intellectuals and lawyers who stood in solidarity with the
dalit protesters who were severely repressed following the April 2 all
India bandh and subsequently.

The CPI(M) demands that the Supreme Court order on Sanjeev Bhatt must be
complied with by the Gujarat state government immediately.

Electoral Tactics

The Polit Bureau discussed the tactics for the forthcoming round of
assembly elections in the states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh,
Chhattisgarh and Telangana. This will now be put before the Central
Committee which will meet from October 6 to 8, 2018 where the electoral
tactics for the 2019 general elections will also be discussed.