More than 40,000 people marched in Solapur on December 24, 2014 under the banner of the CPI(M), demanding that the state government immediately sanction the proposed housing projects for the poor, along with the necessary budgetary allocations. This march started from the CPI(M) office at Datta Nagar and culminated at the district collector’s office. Thousands of members of the housing projects participated. A huge number of them were women. The march was led by CPI(M) central committee member Narsayya Adam, ex-MLA.
The Congress MLA, Praneeti Shinde, daughter of the former union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde, has been indulging in rumour-mongering and has been spreading blatant lies regarding this housing project to mislead the people. She had organised a 500-strong march on December 14, 2014 to malign the CPI(M) and Narsayya Adam. In a befitting reply, 40,000 working people of Solapur came out on the roads to condemn the canards spread by the Congress MLA. Narsayya Adam, said that Praneeti Shinde has committed the unforgivable act of maligning the struggle of the CPI(M) to build houses for the homeless. The sanction for the housing project of ‘Ray Nagar’ is nearly complete. The selfish ex- Union home minister, who has himself amassed huge wealth, has stealthily manoeuvred to prevent the earlier Congress chief minister from giving the final signature on the file of this housing project, thus stopping this project from becoming a reality. Praneeti Shinde has ridiculed the people of Solapur by making unsubstantiated, baseless statements against the housing project and against Narsayya Adam in the state assembly. However much she tries to malign this movement, the people will defeat her nefarious designs. This was clearly shown by the people by turning out in tens of thousands for this agitation. There is no alternative for working people but to fight unitedly for houses that they will own. They include unorganised workers, bidi workers, domestic workers, powerloom workers, garment workers, workers of closed mills, labourers from dalit, backward and minority sections and people living insecure lives in rented homes. The bourgeois-landlord classes, communal and casteist forces and their political parties have always used the votes of the poor for their political profit. Use of unfair, corrupt means, money and liquor, polarisation of the people by instigating communal and caste divisions are the ways that have been used to keep the voters in perpetual political naiveté.
Narsayya Adam said that the labouring masses should wage intense, united struggles for their right to a home and be prepared to even face imprisonment, lathi charges and firing by the police. He called upon the people to always be ready to bravely combat and defeat the repressive designs of the government. Adam declared that if the state government does not give its nod for the delayed housing project by March 31, 2015, all the members of this project will organise a huge march in Delhi. We will not rest till we build the 45,000 houses. The CPI(M) has filed a petition against the sinister campaign and false allegations leveled by the Congress in the High Court. Afraid that it may lose its MLA seat, the Congress has started indulging in the above rumour-mongering against the CPI(M). Adam has challenged the Congress to conduct a legal inquiry if it has any suspicions about the housing project and take action if any financial misappropriation is shown.
The governing bodies of the various housing societies, viz. Shaheed Kurban Husain women workers minority cooperative housing development society, Jambmuni cobbler community backward class cooperative housing development society, Com M K Pandhe powerloom workers cooperative housing development society, Com Meenakshitai Sane women bidi workers cooperative housing development society, Com Godavari Parulekar women bidi workers cooperative housing development society, jointly submitted a memorandum to the district collector. The march was also addressed by several state committee and district committee members among others.