[Marxistindia] Central Committee Statement

[news from the cpi(m)]

Camp: Hyderabad
June 12, 2011

Press Statement

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) met in  
Hyderabad on June 11-12, 2011.  It has issued the following statement:

Election Review

The Central Committee conducted a review of the results of the recent  
Assembly elections in the four states of West Bengal, Kerala,  
Tamilnadu, Assam and the Union Territory of Puducherry.

The review examined the reasons for the big defeat of the Left Front  
in West Bengal. It identified the causes  for the erosion of support  
for the CPI(M) and the Left Front among different sections of the  
people.  The CPI(M) and the Left had come under a big attack since the  
reverses suffered in the Lok Sabha elections.  Under the TMC  
leadership there was a concerted effort to ensure a gang-up of  
disparate political forces ranging from the extreme right to the  
Maoists to isolate and weaken the Left Front.

Notwithstanding the big achievements of the Left Front governments  
over the last three decades, there were shortcomings and weaknesses in  
some of the policies and measures adopted for the welfare of the  
people.  The mistakes with regard to Singur and Nandigram proved  
costly. The review also identified the organizational defects and  
shortcomings which have alienated various sections of the people. The  
Review Report adopted by the Central Committee has set out some of the  
corrective steps to be taken at the political and organizational level.

The Central Committee rejected the motivated propaganda that the  
electoral defeat in West Bengal has rendered the CPI(M) and the Left  
politically irrelevant.  The Left Front, despite the adverse  
circumstances, has got 1.95 crore votes which is 41 per cent of the  
total votes. The West Bengal Party and the Left movement has undergone  
many vicissitudes in the past and emerged stronger.  The CPI(M) will  
continue the struggle for the working class and the toiling people  
against the neo-liberal policies and defend the historic gains  
achieved by the people.  Drawing the proper lessons from this defeat,  
the Party and the Left will bend all its energies to reinvigorate this  
movement.

In Kerala, the LDF lost narrowly.  The UDF could win only with a  
slender margin of three seats. In its review, the Central Committee  
appreciated the work of the CPI(M) and the LDF in the election  
campaign. The LDF has emerged with strong popular support.  The  
Central Committee has directed the Kerala state committee to examine  
various aspects of the election results and to take steps to further  
strengthen the Party and the movement in Kerala.

The report also conducted a review of the election results in  
Tamilnadu and Assam.

The Congress ruling party, cannot take much satisfaction from the  
results of the five state Assembly elections, with the exception of  
Assam.  This is a reflection of the image of the Central Government as  
being one steeped in corruption. Its failure to curb price rise caused  
discontent among the people. It was virtually wiped out in Tamilnadu  
along with the major partner, the DMK. In Kerala it barely managed to  
scrape through.

The BJP has performed badly. It has got only five seats in Assam which  
is a reduction by half compared to the earlier tally. It was unable to  
win any seat in the other three states.

The Central Committee warned that the UPA government at the Centre may  
be emboldened to push more vigorously for neo-liberal policies given  
the loss of the Left-led governments in West Bengal and Kerala.  Their  
attempt to heap more burdens on the people through such policies will  
be strongly resisted by the CPI(M) and the Left forces. The Central  
government will try to ride roughshod over the  rights of the states  
and encroach further on Centre-State relations.  The UPA government is  
displaying a tendency to assault democratic rights as seen in the  
manner in which it is trying to suppress protests against corruption  
and black money. The CPI(M) will fight against all such trends and  
vigorously defend the rights of the people and their livelihood.

Stop the Violence in West Bengal,
Defend Democracy

Immediately, the Party has to face a situation where  the Party and  
the Left are under tremendous attack.  Fourteen CPI(M) and Left Front   
activists  have been killed since the post election results.  Hundreds  
of people have been injured in physical attacks.  Scores of Party  
offices and trade union offices have been attacked or captured. Many  
of the Party cadres have to leave their homes because of threats and  
intimidation.  The TMC-Congress government has shown no interest  
whatsoever in curbing this violence.  The Central Committee condemned  
this campaign of violence and terror against the CPI(M) and the Left  
Front and call upon all democratic forces in the country to protest  
this onslaught against democracy and democratic rights.

Act against Corruption

The Central Committee strongly asserted that it is the Left parties  
that have the credibility and the record to fight against corruption  
in high places.  The platform of the Left against corruption requires  
a comprehensive set of measures which can help curb corruption. This  
includes an effective Lokpal legislation which brings the Prime  
Minister also under its purview; the setting up of a National Judicial  
Commission to oversee the judiciary; electoral reforms to curb the use  
of money power and firm measures to break the nexus of big  
business-ruling politicians and the bureaucracy. The fountainhead of  
corruption today is this corrupt nexus which has flourished under the  
neo-liberal regime.  The Left parties will mobilize the people to  
struggle to bring in these set of measures.

Food Security and BPL Survey

The Central Government?s claims of food inflation control have once  
again proven false with food inflation nearing 10 per cent. At the  
same time, the record rabi wheat procurement will once again rot in  
the open because of the callous negligence of the expansion of storage  
facilities.  The most logical step which the Central Government   
stubbornly refuses take, would be to allocate the stocks to the states  
at  BPL prices. In this context, the Food Security Bill proposed by  
the Sonia Gandhi-headed National Advisory Council is highly  
unsatisfactory because it rejects the universal public distribution  
system and suggests instead new forms of targeting which will be an  
injustice  to the large population which requires subsidized  
foodgrains.  The present draft is unacceptable.  The government   
should ensure, as a legal entitlement, at least 35 kg of foodgrains to  
the people at Rs. 2 a kilo as is being done by many state governments.

The BPL census questionnaire retains the anti-poor ranking system in  
which a poor person is not assessed by his or her own poverty but by  
the poverty of others.  This is a cruel method that not only divides  
the poor but set ever new lines of destitution.   We strongly oppose  
the ranking system.  A  just method would be to have an automatic  
exclusion category with verifiable criteria such as exclusion of  
government employees, income tax payers and big landowners and  
automatically include the rest as being eligible for food security.

The CPI(M) will intensify its  campaign against price rise and for a  
universal public distribution system.

Future Programme

The CPI(M) will conduct a vigorous political campaign against all the  
measures which are being proposed by the UPA government which are  
inimical to the interests of the people and the country.  They include  
bringing multinational companies into retail trade;  continuance of  
targeted public distribution system as against the universal PDS;  
policies which squeeze the peasantry in agriculture and the fight  
against the land grab by corporates and the real estate speculators  
depriving the farmers from their lands.

The Central Committee meeting decided to consult with the Left parties  
to launch a movement   to demand measures to curb corruption in high  
places and to take firm measures to unearth black money and the  
repatriation of illegal money stashed abroad.

The Central Committee decided to mobilize all democratic forces and  
public opinion against the violence and terror unleashed against the  
CPI(M) and the Left in West Bengal. The campaign to end the violence  
and defend democracy in West Bengal will be conducted from July 1 to  
7, 2011.

The Central Committee gave a call to all its Party units to collect  
funds to support the families of those killed, injured and displaced  
in these attacks.

The Central Committee warned the UPA government not to further  
increase  the prices of petroleum products. If it does so, a sustained  
movement will be launched against such an anti-people and inflationary  
measure.

Party Congress

The Central Committee decided to hold the 20th Congress of the Party  
in the beginning of April 2012 in Kerala.  The exact venue will be  
decided shortly.

The Central Committee decided on the time-table of conferences from  
the branch level to  the state committees.


eom