[Marxistindia] PB communique

[news from the cpi(m)]

November 18, 2019
 
Press Communique
 
The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) met in New Delhi
on November 16 & 17, 2019. It has issued the following statement:
 
Ayodhya Dispute:
Verdict Delivered; Not Justice
 
The CPI(M) has always maintained that the resolution of the Ayodhya dispute
must be through a negotiated settlement, failing which, the only way is to
resolve the matter through a court verdict. This is the only manner in which
a secular republic governed by the rule of law can deal with such a dispute.
The verdict has now been delivered. There are however certain premises of
the judgment that raise serious questions.
 
*	The five-member Constitution bench headed by the Chief Justice
states repeatedly the commitment to uphold constitutional values and that
"the adjudication of civil claims over property must remain within the
secular...". "The title cannot be established on the basis of faith and
belief.." Despite such declarations, the end result of the verdict has given
precedence to faith and beliefs of one side. Instead of dealing with the
petitioners in this case, the verdict deviates by widening the ambit
referring to Hindus and Muslims.
 
*	The verdict states unambiguously that the demolition of the Babri
Masjid in December 1992 was a "serious violation of law". But finally, hands
over the site to the very forces responsible for this criminal assault. The
writ filed in 1989 was represented by a leader of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad,
an organisation that led the agitation that resulted in the demolition of
the Babri Masjid. 
 
*	The verdict states that the desecration of the mosque in December
1949 by the illegal placing of idols within the mosque was also a grave
violation of law. Yet, the entire disputed site has been handed over to the
violators of law. 
 
*	The verdict clearly states that the Archeological Survey of India
findings do not provide any evidence for the destruction of a temple to
build the mosque as claimed by the Hindutva forces. However, it goes on to
say that no evidence was offered to indicate that the exclusive possession
of the entire structure of the Babri Masjid belonged to the Muslims between
1528 and 1857. Since the mosque was constructed in 1528, till the British
annexation of Awadh in 1856, the mosque was, for over three centuries, under
the rule - first of the Mughals, later of the Awadh nawabs. The fact that
there was no dispute prior to 1857 cannot prove that the Muslims were not in
exclusive possession or the mosque was not used for prayers. On the contrary
the Hindu side's claims of continuous possession has been upheld not on the
basis of facts but it appears display of faith and belief has taken the
upper hand.
 
*	The verdict has reiterated the Places of Worship Act, 1991 as a law
which enforces constitutional obligations to uphold the equality of all
religions and secularism. No place of worship can be altered from the status
quo as it exists since August 15, 1947. However, the court failed to bar the
future raising of such disputes in other locations like Kashi and Mathura.
The RSS chief has in a veiled warning declared that the disputes of Kashi
and Mathura are not on the agenda "for now". This is an ominous declaration
indicating that passions can be aroused on these issues at any time in the
future. A firm resolve by the apex court to bar such possibilities was not
forthcoming. 
 
*	Though the December 1949 and December 1992 incidents have been
categorized as serious violation of law, justice has not been delivered on
the perpetrators of such criminal acts. The case against those including L K
Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Kalyan Singh etc. as being responsible for the
demolition of the Babri Masjid has been languishing for nearly 28 years now.
This must be expedited and guilty punished and this verdict of the Supreme
Court should not impinge on the delivery of justice. 
 
*	The judicial verdict has been delivered to settle this longstanding
dispute that had already claimed thousands of lives and left behind a trail
of bloodshed and mayhem through communal riots for over two decades. 
 
Sabarimala Review Verdict
 
The five-member Constitution bench was to hear the review petitions and writ
petitions regarding its September 2018 judgment allowing women of all ages
to worship in the Sabarimala temple. Instead of disposing off the review
petitions, the majority judgment, deviating from the norm, has widened the
scope by making a reference to various points concerning religious rights
under the Constitution to a seven-member bench. The minority judgment of two
members has categorically rejected all the review petitions and upheld the
2018 judgment. 
 
By diverting the matter to other issues concerning women's rights of other
religions which are already being heard by other benches of the court, the
majority judgment has failed to uphold the 2018 verdict and by keeping the
review petitions pending has created an ambiguous and uncertain situation. 
 
As far as the CPI(M) is concerned, it is committed to women's equality in
all spheres and wants the court to come out with a definitive stand at the
earliest.
 
Rafael
 
The Supreme Court order on Rafael controversy dismissing the review petition
has clarified that this in no way bars investigation by agencies like the
CBI or others to proceed with investigation on charges of misappropriation
and corruption. Under this government, any faith on an investigation by the
CBI does not arise. The CPI(M), therefore, since this controversy erupted
and since a largescale loss to public exchequer benefitting the crony
corporate friends of this government surfaced, had demanded a Joint
Parliamentary Committee to be constituted to investigate this scam. The Modi
government refuses to accept this. Clearly, there is a lot that it seeks to
hide. 
 
The CPI(M) reiterates its demand for the constitution of a JPC to
investigate this scam.
 
Jammu & Kashmir
 
It is now more than hundred days since the restrictions on communications,
public transport movement was imposed in the state of Jammu & Kashmir.
Though some easing of restrictions has been announced, the daily life of the
people continues to be disrupted because of immense hardships.
 
Most of the political leaders have either been detained under the draconian
Public Safety Act or continue to remain under house arrest. The government
claims that they have not been arrested nor are they facing any charges. But
the fact of the matter is that they can neither leave their residence nor
can anybody go to visit them. Hundreds of others are reportedly detained in
various jails in the country and there is still no clarity on how many have
been detained under and what charges, even after a hundred days.
 
The CPI(M) demands the complete lifting of all restrictions imposed on the
state that continue to affect the normal life and activities of the people.
Internet and even SMS messaging continue to remain barred. This is
grievously affecting the state's economy which is largely dependent on
tourism and the sale of cash crops like fruits and saffron. Most of these
orders and payments are made online. This continues to remain disrupted.
 
Annually, on an average, apple trade is in the range of Rs. 10,000 crore.
This is totally ruined. The BJP government must declare this as a national
calamity and compensate the apple growers.
 
The CPI(M) demands that all the political leaders detained should be
released forthwith; the complete restoration of democratic rights and civil
liberties guaranteed by the constitution must be ensured. In particular,
school going children have been subjected to tremendous trauma with
uncertainty over their careers, future and employment. This cannot be
allowed to continue. 
 
Economic Distress
 
The Modi government continues to remain in a state of denial over the fact
that the Indian economy has virtually entered a stage of recession with the
GDP growth showing a decline for over two quarters. This has resulted in the
heaping of unprecedented burdens on the vast majority of our people. The
data released by the NSSO has shown that the consumer spending in rural
areas declined by 8.8 per cent in 2017-18 indicating a fall after four
decades and consequent rise in poverty levels. This report has now been
withdrawn by the government over "data quality issues". This Modi government
is indulging in gross data fudging. The lack of data credibility is
additionally hitting India's global ratings.
 
All sectors of our economy, agriculture, industry and services, have been
subject to severe slowdown. Industrial output recorded the steepest decline
in eight years. Power demand fell the most in the last twelve years. All
current estimates of GDP growth rate have shown it to fall below 5 per cent.
 
Unemployment levels have reached the highest in the last half a century.
Massive lay-offs and retrenchment is taking place in factories across the
board, including the IT sector. 
 
Additionally, the government has embarked upon a largescale privatization of
the public sector. This, apart from destroying India's self-reliant basis,
also benefits directly the corporate cronies of this Modi government. Such
privatization will add to already largescale growing unemployment in the
country. Further, whatever little benefit that the marginalized sections of
Indian society derived from reservations would be seriously eroded. 
 
This economic recession has been caused due to a sharp decline in the
purchasing capacities of the vast majority of our people. The answer to turn
around the economy lies in providing people the capacity to purchase, thus
increasing the levels of domestic demand which may lead to a revival of
closed factories. The Modi government has announced a package in two
instalments of Rs. 2.15 lakh crores providing tax cuts and benefits to the
corporates with the hope that they will increase their investments.
Increased investments cannot revive the economy unless people have the
capacity to buy what is produced by such new investments. It is precisely
this that is going to get further exacerbated by the government's so-called
"solutions". 
 
Instead, if this Rs. 2.15 lakh crores were used for enlarging public
investment to build our much-needed infrastructure, social and economic,
this would have resulted in the creation of lakhs of new jobs providing
employment to our distressed youth. Once they start spending their earnings,
the domestic demand would have risen providing the required kickstart for an
economic turnaround. Cruelly, the government has turned back two out of the
13 crores who applied for work under the MGNREGA.  
 
However, this Modi government in its urge to provide greater avenues for
profit-maximisation to foreign and domestic corporates is providing them
with concessions while further pushing the vast majority of our people into
languishing misery.
 
State Assembly Elections
 
The election results of the assemblies of Maharashtra and Haryana and bye
elections in various states like Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan,
Kerala and Assam, clearly showed that the impact of communal nationalist
jingoistic emotional propaganda fanned by the BJP is waning.
 
The grim reality of increasing burdens on people's livelihood with the
economic recession deepening is coming to the fore. This underlines the need
for intensifying popular united struggles on people's growing economic
miseries.
 
Jharkhand: In the forthcoming assembly elections in Jharkhand, the CPI(M)
will contest ten seats. The CPI(M) has appealed to all Left parties to come
together to forge an understanding between the Left parties in the state in
the interests of improving people's welfare.
 
New Education Policy
 
The CPI(M) is opposed to the drastic changes in the education policy of our
country proposed by this Modi government on various aspects. The Party has
already put out its reasoned opinion in the public domain. This new policy
contains proposals that are detrimental for India's future and makes
education a privilege than a right for the people particularly our children.
This is completely against the interests of our country and the future of
our people.
 
All efforts will be made to draw together the democratic sections of the
people who are opposed to this education policy into the national campaign
and a protest movement aimed at forcing the government to withdraw this
policy.
 
Rightwing Coup in Bolivia
 
The Polit Bureau of the CPIM) condemned the rightwing coup in Bolivia
ousting the democratically elected government of Evo Morales, the first
indigenous President of the country.
 
US imperialism's direct and brazen interference in the internal affairs of
many Latin American countries is emboldening the rightwing forces to
dismantle progressive Left-leaning governments that were elected
democratically by the peoples of various countries. In Brazil, the
self-declared fascist Bolsanaro was elected after a rightwing reactionary
destabilization of the Left of centre government and the arrest of former
presidents Lula and Dilma Rousseff. Predictably, the Modi government has
invited this president to be the Chief Guest at the India's 2020 Republic
Day parade.
 
US imperialism continues to brazenly interfere in Venezuela targeting the
Maduro government and directly assisting and financing the rightwing forces
to destabilise the government. 
 
Resistance to such rightwing offensive is, however, seen in countries like
Argentina, Chile etc. 
 
The struggle between the political right and the political Left will set the
future course of politics in the continent
 
PB Call
 
The Polit Bureau calls upon all Party units to conduct a month-long movement
of protests, conventions and agitations against the large-scale
privatization of the public sector in December 2019. This month-long
movement must dovetail to culminate in the Party's support to the January 8,
2020 all India strike called by the central trade unions.
 
*	STOP PRIVATISATION
*	SAVE PUBLIC ASSETS
 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://cpim.org/pipermail/marxistindia_cpim.org/attachments/20191118/75465502/attachment.html>