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CPI-M rally blasts Mamata govt,Big names dropped from CPM state committee
Palash Biswas
Seeking to regain crucial rural support for next year's panchayat elections, CPI-M on Sunday attacked the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal on the issue of farmer suicides and non-procurement of farm produce.
"In 34 years of Left rule, we did not see farmer suicides in West Bengal, but now in nine months of Trinamool Congress government, 33 farmers have committed suicide in the state," CPI(M) led by General Secretary Prakash Karat said.
He was addressing a public meeting at the Brigade Parade Ground here at the end of the 23rd CPI(M) state conference.
In the first show of strength since it lost power in West Bengal after ruling for over 34 years, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leaders on Sunday urged party workers to go to the people and win their faith while attacking the Mamata Banerjee government over farmers' suicide, industrialization and law and order.
Insisting that only the Left had an alternative to the "anti-people" policies of the Centre, CPI-M General Secretary Prakash Karat on Sunday advocated greater Left unity in building up a country-wide campaign against price rise, unemployment and the plight of farmers.
"We will build up a country-wide campaign against price rise, unemployment and the plight of the farmers and workers.
Only the Left parties have alternative policies against the anti-people policies of the Centre. We will work in building up a popular Left unity. We will move forward by uniting all Left parties," Karat told a CPI(M) rally here.
The rally was the first after the defeat of the Left Front in West Bengal for the first time in 34 years.
Referring to the unprecedented price rise, he said food inflation had remained sky-high for 38 months and alleged that the government had surpassed all records of corruption.
"The government is responsible for the price rise. Since the decontrol of petrol and diesel prices, these have seen 15 upward revisions. The prices have not been increased for the past two months because of the Assembly elections in five states. The prices will rise again after March 1," he said.
Describing the 2G scam as the biggest example of corruption, Karat said the Supreme Court had ordered cancellation of licenses of 122 telecom companies.
"But this government is shameless. It insists that no bribe has been paid and there has been no loss to the exchequer," Karat said, adding, "The rich and corporates have been given an open licence to loot the country."
Claiming only the Left-ruled states have been free from corruption charges, he alleged that such charges have surfaced against all others, be it Congress or BJP ruled states.
He said the proposed Food Security Act would not be able to protect the security of food. "The Left Front government in West Bengal had tried to implement universal rationing system. We will campaign for it."
Meanwhile, a large number of the CPM state committee members were dropped tonight, including some veterans and powerful leaders.
While some of them opted out voluntarily for health reasons, some were reportedly axed due to their dubious track record.
The 83-member state committee was reconstituted tonight after the end of the party's 23rd state conference attended by the party's topmost politburo members such as Prakash Karat, Sitaram Yechury, Brinda Karat, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Biman Bose.
Those dropped included Lakshman Seth, Amitava Nandy, Anil Basu, Rajdeo Goala, Benoy Konar, Chandi Paul, Nakul Mahato, Manik Sanyal and Jibon Moitra. The new state secretariat is yet to be announced.
Lakshman Seth has recently been booked for his alleged complicity in the kidnapping and murder of several Nandigram villagers. The CID is looking for him. Amitava Nandy, a powerful party MP till recently, has been facing complaints of nepotism and corruption. Anil Basu was accused of political terror.
Nine months after being evicted from power in West Bengal, the CPM will face a litmus test on Sunday when it holds its first rally at the Brigade Parade ground in conclusion to the CPM state conference.
The leaders as well as political circles will be watching the response the party gets to its rally after the debacle in the Assembly elections of 2011.
The rally at the city's iconic Brigade Parade Ground was used to target Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over various issues, including farmers' suicide, financial situation and violence with the Park Street rape and the premature remarks by the government about the incident as a "fabrication" offering fodder to the Left leaders.
From CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat, to former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, the leaders sniped at the Trinamool relentlessly at the rally making farmers' suicide, attack on teachers and law and order the main weapons in their arsenal.
"Never before had farmers committed suicide in our state. They always took loans but never got into a situation that would drive them to suicide. In the previous years they could sell their paddy, now they cannot.
"The government said nothing happened. Are the farmers taking poison for nothing? The government said these farmers took massive loans of crores. What is the government saying?' asked Bhattacharjee.
"The danger will only rise. It will happen with jute and potatoes also. The farmers are not getting their price. Even the little wheat cultivation is in question. There would be starvation again," he said.
"Is this the change people wanted? Had the farmers wanted this change," Bhattacharjee asked.
Bhattacharjee said the Panchayats were rendered ineffective by the government.
"There is no Panchayat now in the villages. The government want to rule by the officials. Is this the change we had wanted?" asked Bhattacharjee.
He said in the past nine months, the government could not proceed a wee bit in industrialization.
Bhattacharjee said even the transport employees are not getting their salaries and even pension was stopped.
"A transport worker even committed suicide. Can this go on? The government says there is no money, but the government has enough to splurge on festivals in places like Digha," said Bhattacharjee.
The government shamelessly increased the salaries of ministers instead, he said.
Pointing out at child deaths, he said the government has no concern over the deaths.
Left Front chairman and CPI-M state chief Biman Bose asked the party workers to go to the people and not be complacent.
"Go to the people. Visit the families and keep in touch with them," Biman Bose told the gathering.
Prakash Karat also used the platform to attack the central government on issues like price rise and corruption, particularly the 2G scam.
"The government [central] raised petro prices 15 times. Only for the past two months they did not hike because of the elections in the five states. The polls will end and they will again start hiking the price of petrol and diesel," Karat said.
He said never had there been such farmers' suicides in West Bengal during the Left rule.
"About 33 farmers have have committed suicide in Bengal," Karat said.
Karat said the 2G licences were cancelled by the Supreme Court recently, but "the union government is shameless."
Meanwhile, at the rally, the CPI-M said the anti-socials are raring their heads again and the irresponsible government was making statements even before verifying the truth.
Biman Bose said the Chief Minister (Mamata Banerjee) herself is a woman but she said the rape was a fabricated lie to malign her even before inquiry.
Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said with the new government in power the anti-social elements are back since "they feel it is their government."
Soon after the rally, the Trinamool called a press conference to parry the allegations.
"Hundreds of farmers, about 1200 a year, had died in the Left rule. The CPI-M entertainment show at Brigade says nothing new," said Trinamool Congress leader and state industry minister Partha Chattopadhayay.
"Who are talking about farmers? The perpetrators of Singur and Nandigram? The party that killed farmers, raped their women, are talking about the farmers," said Chattopadhayay.
Biman Bose re-elected CPI(M) secretary
ANANYA DUTTASHARE · COMMENT · PRINT · T+
PTICPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat greets Left Front chairman Biman Bose after he was re-elected the party's West Bengal secretary at the end of the CPI(M) State conference in Kolkata on Saturday.
75 elected to State Committee; some seats remain vacant
Communist Party of India (Marxist) Polit Bureau member Biman Bose was unanimously re-elected West Bengal secretary of the party at its 23rd State Conference here on Saturday.
"The newly-elected State Committee unanimously elected Biman Bose as the State Secretary," CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat announced.
During the day, 75 members were elected to the State Committee, while some seats remain vacant. The names of over 20 members of the previous State Committee do not feature in the present list. Some of them, including former Speaker of the West Bengal Assembly Hasim Abdul Halim, were elevated to the status of Special Invitees to the State Committee.
Significantly, three important leaders former MPs — Lakshman Shett, Amitava Nandi and Anil Bose — were not re-elected to the State Committee.
Controversies surrounding his association with an NGO that set up a private medical college may have prompted the party's decision to remove Mr. Shett from the Committee, whereas Mr. Anil Bose suffered the same fate probably for derogatory remarks made against Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee at a public rally.
Both incidents had caused the party considerable embarrassment.
The decisions fall in line with the ongoing rectification programme within the party. The State leadership has been reiterating the need to shunt out leaders whose recent actions might have tarnished the image of the party in the public eye.
New faces
Among the new faces to have joined the State Committee this year are some of the Ministers in the previous Left Front governments — Anadi Sahoo, Anju Kar and Anisur Rahaman.
The conference has also elected 175 delegates to attend the Party Congress to be held at Kozikode in April.
Keywords: CPI(M) State Conference, Biman Bose election
http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article2907972.ece
CPI(M) plans rectification drive
ANANYA DUTTASHARE · COMMENT · PRINT · T+
In the discussions on the first two days of the ongoing 23 State Conference of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the need for building an active party organisation free from any flaw has been emphasised.
"In the present circumstances, there is need for workers who are ideologically committed and of a high calibre. Although the number of the members has increased, qualitative membership has not increased according to expectations," the conference observed, according to a State CPI(M) Committee release here on Thursday, second day of the five-day meet.
Central Committee member Shyamal Chakraborty, who briefed journalists, said that in order to improve the standards of membership, a rectification drive would be carried out "from the highest to the lowest committee in the organisation."
"The main aspects that will be looked into during the rectification process are the manner in which the [Left Front] government was run, the organisational aspects and any ideological lapses that may have occurred."
Asked whether the industrialisation policy of the Left Front government was criticised, Mr. Chakraborty said it was concluded that there were no lapses in the policy but "in certain places, land may have been acquired in a hurried manner. There were no problems faced when land was acquired in Bardhaman or Paschim Medinipur district, but in Nandigram and Singur perhaps more discussions should have been held."
Resolutions were presented on the issues of price rise, hiring of employees on contract by the Trinamool Congress-led government instead of appointing regular employees, farmer suicides and measures required for workers in the unorganised sector, Mr. Chakraborty said.
He also highlighted the problem of a large number of party leaders and workers who have been "implicated in cases by the government on trumped-up charges."
Keywords: CPI(M) membership, CPI(M) policy decisions
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2900888.ece
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