C.C. Communiqué

Date: 
Monday, June 8, 2015

June 8, 2015
Press Communiqué
 
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) met at New Delhi on June 6-7, 2015. It has issued the following statement:
 
One year of BJP Government:
Maximum Propaganda, Minimum Performance
 
Contrary to the propaganda that the BJP government has unleashed on the completion of one year in office, the livelihood conditions of the vast majority of the Indian people are actually declining.  The massive hikes in the prices of petroleum products in the background of the fall in the international price of crude oil is fuelling all-round inflation, particularly of food items and essential commodities. 
 
Economic Turn Around: False Claims
 
Soon after assuming office, the Central government has changed the basis for the calculation for National Income Accounts. According to this new formula, the GDP has been projected at 7.3 per cent. However, even with this new formula, the growth during October-December 2014 has now been revised downwards to 6.6 per cent from the earlier claim of 7.5 per cent, exposing the falsification of its own earlier claims.
 
This new formula has estimated the growth of the manufacturing sector as being 7.1 percent for 2014-15. The index of industrial production data however shows that the factory output in the country was only 2.3 per cent. The final private consumption expenditure, a gauge to measure household spending, grew at 6.3 per cent as against 6.2 per cent last year. The investment rate in the economy has not grown as claimed. Gross fixed capital formation reflecting investment rate is 30 per cent, down from 30.7 per cent last year. Further, output of 8 core industries contracted by 0.4 per cent compared to 5.7 per cent growth last year. Therefore, both investment and demand have stagnated. Consequently, the unemployment situation has worsened.
 
Notwithstanding the hype of `Make in India’, foreign investment both in the equity markets and direct production has declined.
 
The agrarian distress continues to deepen. Following the drought last kharif season, unseasonal rains and hailstorms damaged standing crops in nearly two crore hectares in various parts of the country. The weather forecast for this year predicts an inadequate monsoon. 
 
The BJP government has reneged on its promise of giving remunerative MSP to farmers. The kisans are finding it difficult to make both ends meet, leading to an increase of 26 per cent in the spate of distress farmers suicides.
 
The recent unprecedented heat-wave deaths across the country are also linked to the withdrawal of the MNREGA. The work generated in 2014-15 was at least 60 per cent less than earlier.  The government is yet to announce any compensation or relief to affected families. The release of foodgrains under the public distribution system declined, virtually negating the assurances given in the Food Security Act.
 
The services sector which was rapidly growing in recent years, is seeing a fall in the basic index that is used to measure its growth, during the last three months.
 
Thus, all the three sectors of the economy - industry, agriculture and services - are in a deep crisis.
 
Sharpening Communal Polarisation
 
During this year, the real agenda of the RSS in unleashing vicious communal attacks has been patronised by this BJP government in all spheres.  Campaigns of `ghar vapsi’, `love jihad’ etc, and the efforts to replace syncretic Indian history with Hindu mythology continue.  Key RSS people are appointed to various crucial positions in academic institutions. Growth of rabid intolerance is reflected in the latest incident at IIT Madras.  No action has been taken on any Cabinet minister or MP/MLAs who continue to spew venomous hate speeches across the country. Communal tensions are erupting across the country, the latest being the riots that took place in Atali, Ballabgarh, in the National Capital Region.
 
Deteriorating Centre-State Relations
 
During this period, Centre-State relations are deteriorating with the appointment of leading RSS/BJP politicians as Governors of the states. In Delhi, the elected state government and the Centre, through the office of the Lieutenant Governor, are logged in a bitter battle over appointments of officers. In the North East, the Chief Ministers of all the states have sought to meet the PM to air their concerns over the transfer of central funds for development, particularly after the Planning Commission has ceased to exist. The PM has reportedly not found time for this so far.
 
Attacks on Parliamentary Democracy
 
During this year, the BJP government has been systematically undermining parliamentary procedures by seeking to bypass the Rajya Sabha where it does not have a majority. Nearly 50 legislations were enacted without reference to the Standing Committees, using its majority in the Lok Sabha. 
 
The BJP government has re-promulgated the Ordinance amending the Land Acquisition Act for the third time, even when a Joint Parliamentary  Committee has begun examining these amendments. This is unprecedented. 
 
The CPI(M) has published a booklet exposing this one year of the BJP government titled `Ek Saal Bura Haal’.
 
CPI(M)’s Campaign Call
 
Many kisan organizations have together launched a struggle under the banner Bhoomi Adhikar Andolan (Movement for Land Rights) against the amendments to the Land Acquisition Act. CPI(M) units all across the country will extend support to the programmes of this movement.
 
The Central Trade Unions have given a call for an all-India general strike on September 2 against the attacks on the working class and the longstanding rights earned by it through struggles.  The CPI(M) Central Committee extended its full support to this general strike and all programmes leading up to it.
 
The Central Committee has decided to organize nationwide protests on various burning issues affecting the rural people as a result of this deepening agrarian distress from August 1 to 14.  All units of the CPI(M) will launch struggles, all across the country, during this fortnight on specific local issues. 
 
This campaign fortnight, apart from struggles on the burning local issues,  will highlight the drastic cuts in MNREGA allocation, the undermining of the food security commitments by the Central government, mobilizing support for the ongoing kisan struggles and the all India general strike on September 2.
 
West Bengal
 
Braving the politics of terror, intimidation and threats by the Trinamool Congress, the CPI(M) has in the recent municipal elections, for the first time since the 2009 parliamentary elections, arrested the decline in its electoral support base. The wresting of the municipality in Siliguri is significant. Wherever the people have effectively resisted such politics of terror and brazen rigging in the elections, democracy has triumphed. 
 
Tripura
 
The Central Committee congratulated the people of Tripura on the historic CPI(M) victory in the recently-concluded Tripura Autonomous District Council in the state. The Central Committee hailed the decision of the Tripura Left Front government to withdraw the AFSPA in the state.
 
 
 
 
Harkishan Singh Surjeet
Birth Centenary Observations
 
The Central Committee decided to observe the birth centenary of Comrade Surjeet on the basis of the resolution adopted at the 21st Congress, by all its units across the country culminating on his birthday, March 23, 2016. In the current context, Com. Surjeet’s role in the fight against communalism and other expressions of fundamentalism will be highlighted.
 
Nepal Earthquake Relief Fund
 
The CPI(M) units all across the country collected a total of Rs. 3,25,86,871 equivalent to Nepali Rs. 5,21,38,993.60 as the Nepal Earthquake Relief Fund. The highlight of this fund collection is the Kerala unit’s collection of Rs. 2,84,89,853. This amount will be handed over by the General Secretary to the President and Prime Minister of Nepal on June 10, 2015 at Kathmandu.
 
Organisational Plenum
 
The Central Committee decided to convene the All India Organisational Plenum of the Party, as mandated by its 21st Congress, in Kolkata towards the end of this year. The details of the dates and venue will be finalised subsequently. 
 
Division of Responsibilities
 
The Central Committee allocated individual responsibilities to its members and formed various sub-committees to strengthen collective functioning, which is the hallmark of the CPI(M)’s organisational methods. The Central Committee decided on the editors of the Central Party organs –
 
The Marxist -- Sitaram Yechury; People’s Democracy -- Prakash Karat; and Lok Lehar -- Rajendra Sharma
 
Central Secretariat
 
The Central Committee elected a six-member Secretariat headed by the General Secretary and consisting of Hari Singh Kang, Nilotpal Basu, V. Srinivasa Rao, Jogendra Sharma and Dr. Ashok Dhawale.
 
Central Discipline Commission
 
The Central Committee elected a four-member Central Discipline Commission consisting of S. Ramachandran Pillai (Chairperson), Madan Ghosh, V. Srinivasa Rao and U. Vasuki.