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 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 polaristion 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 Baghepalli 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
The22nd Congress had directed the newly elected Central Committee to fill up one vacancy in the Central Committee by a women comrade. The Central Committee decided to coopt A.R. Sindhu against this vacancy.