Press Communique
The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) met in New Delhi on September 17, 2004. It has issued the following statement:
The Polit Bureau discussed the overall political situation. It heard reports of the situation in Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur and the north-eastern region. The extremist groups are utilising Bangladesh territory to conduct operations in the neighbouring states. In Jammu & Kashmir, the UPA government should work out a fresh initiative with a clear political content which can elicit a favourable response for a dialogue with all concerned groups within the state. This should accompany the Indo-Pakistan dialogue which will be carried forward after the recent Foreign Ministers meeting in Delhi.
The Polit Bureau welcomed the decision of the Cabinet to repeal POTA. The Polit Bureau urged the UPA government to ensure that the ongoing POTA cases be brought under the purview of the repeal. Cases which need to be continued can be pursued under the relevant provisions of the IPC.
BJP’s Communal Agenda
In the recent period, the BJP has once again shown by its stance and activities that it has nothing to fall back on but its communal agenda. On the Savarkar issue, the BJP-RSS combine is engaged in glorifying a person who symbolised the ideology of communal hatred which resulted finally in the conspiracy to assassinate Gandhiji. In the Uma Bharati affair, the BJP has sought to wrap itself around the national flag when the actual incident in Hubli was part of the typical RSS ploy of creating Hindu-Muslim tensions in sensitive places. Uma Bharati had been used for such a provocation at the Idgah maidan.
The BJP’s campaign on such issues has not found any popular response. It only shows how desperate the BJP leadership has become after their defeat in the Lok Sabha elections.
Both these campaigns underline the necessity to firmly counter and expose the disruptionist ideology and politics of the forces which draw sustenance from Hindutva. The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) calls upon all the secular and democratic forces to firmly counter the efforts of the BJP to introduce the communal idiom in politics in some garb or the other. A special responsibility devolves upon the UPA government and the Congress leadership in this regard. They have to show the political will and the ideological firmness to rebuff all such attacks on secular-democratic values.
Maharashtra Elections
The CPI(M) will contest in the assembly elections with the aim of defeating the Shiv Sena-BJP combine. The Maharashtra state committee of CPI(M) has drawn up a list of seats to be contested where the Party can put up an effective fight and to rally the Left and democratic forces to project alternative policies. The Party’s endeavour will be avoid the division in the secular votes to the extent possible.
Implement Pro-People Measures In The CMP
The Polit Bureau discussed the issues which are of immediate concern to the people and which require the implementation of the pro-people measures in the Common Minimum Programme. As a priority, the proposals for employment generation such as the Employment Guarantee Act, increase in public investment in agriculture and revival of the public sector units and increased public expenditure in education and health have all to be taken up in a time-bound manner. The Left parties have already decided to discuss the implementation of the CMP proposals in the next meeting of the UPA-Left Coordination Committee.
The Polit Bureau is of the firm opinion that measures such as raising the FDI caps in telecom and insurance and the privatisation of the airports in Delhi and Mumbai do not conform to the direction set out in the CMP. The needless controversy created by the inclusion of representatives of the World Bank and other international agencies in the consultative bodies of the Planning Commission shows a lack of awareness of the popular feelings in the country.
Organisational Matters
The Polit Bureau discussed a draft document on mass organisations which will be placed before the next Central Committee meeting. It also finalised some guidelines for the conduct of Party conferences.
The next meeting of the Central Committee will be held from October 29 to 31, 2004.