[Marxistindia] CC Communique

[news from the cpi(m)]

Communist Party of India (Marxist)
Central Committee Office

July 27, 2020

Press Communique

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) met  
online, for the first time, on July 25-26, 2020. It has issued the  
following statement:

Covid-19 Pandemic Surge

The abrupt, unprepared, unplanned, unilateral lockdown declared by  
Prime Minister Modi has proved ineffective in combating the surge of  
the pandemic in the country.  The Central government failed to utilize  
the long period of total lockdown for augmenting our health  
facilities, providing protective equipment for the health workers,  
conducting widespread testing, isolating positive cases, contact  
tracing and quarantining as the scientific method to combat the  
pandemic.  PM’s demagoguery of alluding to the Mahabharata war and  
that we would be achieving victory in 21 days proved to be totally  
illusory.

This lockdown, on the other hand, has imposed untold misery on the  
vast majority of our people, particularly, Dalits, Adivasis, women and  
the disabled, with widespread job losses, ruination of livelihoods and  
growing hunger and misery.  The Central government refused to concede  
the essential demands of immediate cash transfers and provision of  
free foodgrains to the needy despite increasing sufferings and  
miseries of the people.

Having failed in containing the pandemic, the PM and the Central  
government have now, completely abdicated their responsibility,  
passing the burden of resolving problems caused by the PM’s  
declaration of the lockdown to state governments and leaving the  
people to fend for themselves.

Relentless Pursuit of RSS/BJP Agenda

Instead of focusing single-minded attention on combating the pandemic  
and providing relief to the people, this BJP Central government is  
relentlessly pursuing its agenda. It has embarked on an economic  
trajectory that is a deadly combination of outright loot of our  
national assets and the mounting of anti-working people assaults.

Self-Subservience, Not Self-Reliance: The stimulus package announced  
in the name of India’s self-reliance is actually a blueprint for  
India’s self-subservience to private capital, both foreign and  
domestic.  All sectors of our economy have now been opened up for FDI  
through automatic route including railways, coal, minerals and  
insurance.  Most public sector undertakings are being privatized,  
including railways, ordinance factories, BSNL etc.  and also in  
electricity, coal, minerals, petroleum, banks, insurance and the  
financial sector. This loot of public resources is accompanied by  
efforts to negate the hard-earned rights of the working class through  
dilution of the labour laws. In many states, the working hours have  
been increased from 8 hours a day to 12 hours.

Sharpening Communal Polarisation: The Central Committee noted with  
concern the further sharpening of communal polarization and targeting  
of the Muslim religious minority community. In Delhi a totally false  
chronology of events to whitewash the role of the RSS/BJP and their  
affiliates in the communal violence is being aggressively pushed by  
the Delhi Police under instructions of the Home Ministry. Many young  
activists including students who participated in the peaceful  
anti-CAA/NRC/NPR protests and victims of communal violence are being  
targeted and arrested under draconian provisions, while those who  
instigated and led the communal violence in North East Delhi have been  
left scot free. In Uttar Pradesh the draconian `UP Recovery of Damages  
to Public and Private Property Ordinance 2020’, is being used to levy  
exorbitant fines and for auctioning of property of those who  
participated in peaceful protests.

Attacks on Democratic Rights and Civil Liberties: The demand for the  
release of several prominent human rights activists on health grounds  
given the pandemic situation, continues to be treated with contempt.  
Any expression of dissent is treated as `anti-national’. Even the few  
left in the media who dare to challenge the authorities concerned are  
not spared and fabricated cases have been filed against them.

Authoritarian Drive: The Central Committee also noted that the BJP led  
government, under the cover of the pandemic is further strengthening  
the drive for centralization of all authority and power, negating the  
principles of federalism, a basic feature of our Constitution.  All  
decisions are being taken unilaterally by the PM and the Central  
government and the states are burdened with bearing the consequences  
of such unilateral decisions.

Though the state governments are in the forefront of combating the  
pandemic, instead of allocating resources, they are being denied even  
their legitimate GST dues. The Centre must immediately transfer the  
thousands of crores of rupees collected in the name of combating the  
pandemic in a private trust named after the PM to the states.

Undermining Constitutional Institutions: The Central Committee  
cautioned the people against the increased efforts by the BJP  
government to undermine all independent Constitutional institutions.  
Parliament’s functioning has been grievously circumscribed. Serious  
questions have come up about the way the judiciary has been  
functioning in recent times. Several important petitions challenging  
the abrogation of Article 370 and 35A of the Constitution as also the  
CAA have been kept pending. The independent functioning of the  
Election Commission is increasingly coming under a cloud.  The  
Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation are  
increasingly functioning as the political arm of the Central government.

Destabilising State Governments: The Central Committee also noted the  
efforts being made by the BJP to topple democratically elected  
governments of other parties by engineering defections through naked  
horse-trading using the huge resources, earned through dubious means,  
at its command.

Denounce the Efforts to Destabilise the LDF Government in Kerala: The  
gold smuggling case in Kerala through diplomatic baggage addressed to  
the UAE consulate is being used by the Congress-led UDF and the BJP,  
working in tandem, to destabilize the LDF government, demanding the  
resignation of the Chief Minister, on false allegations.  The case  
concerns the Customs’ seizure of contraband gold and does not fall  
within the jurisdiction of the state government.  The Chief Minister  
asked for an investigation by the Central agencies and the NIA is  
currently investigating the matter.  All those found guilty and  
involved in this racket by the NIA should be dealt with in accordance  
with law.

The CPI(M) Central Committee is confident that the people of Kerala  
will defeat this disruptive move of the UDF and BJP at a time when all  
efforts are needed to be focused on combating the Covid-19 pandemic.

Further Cementing Subordinate Ally Status with USA: Abandoning India’s  
traditional independent foreign policy, the BJP Central government has  
allied India completely with USA and furthering the strategic  
interests of USA in the world.  This is not in the interest of the  
country and the people.

Education: No Digital Divide

The Central Committee analysed the reports from various states with  
regard to the status of school and college education. The lack of  
infrastructure, lack of equipment like computers and smart phones has  
created a digital divide with a large section of students unable to  
attend online classes. The Central Government must immediately provide  
resources to augment the internet infrastructure especially in the  
rural areas as also adequate financial assistance to the students to  
pursue their education and to purchase the required equipment.  In its  
absence, no digital teaching/examinations must be conducted. Digital  
education is no substitute for physical teaching pedagogy.

Economic Situation: Greater People’s Misery

The Indian economy was already in a tailspin plunging into a recession  
before the Covid-19 pandemic impacted. Even prior to the outbreak of  
the pandemic and the lockdown, Party has been intervening urging  
greater public investments as the only way to revive the economy.  The  
building of our much-needed infrastructure through public investments  
would have generated high levels of new employment which, in turn,  
would have vastly expanded domestic demand in the Indian economy.   
This would permit closed factories and halted manufacturing to revive.  
  But committed as it is to the neo-liberal agenda, the Modi  
government continue to pursue policies that further reduce people’s  
purchasing power, pushing the economy deeper towards a recession.

The anticipated decline of India’s GDP between (-) 4 to (-) 7 per cent  
will further intensify exploitation of the people and their consequent  
miseries. Continuous price rise of petroleum products, rising  
inflation and prices of essential commodities is heaping further  
burdens on the people. The government’s trajectory neither helps in  
any economic recovery nor in providing a better livelihood to our  
people.  This is a trajectory that only provides greater profits to  
the corporates, further widening the obscene levels of economic  
inequalities.

Dangerous Ordinances Destroying Indian Agriculture: The Central  
Committee condemned the promulgation of ordinances to remove the  
Essential Commodities Act as also to amend the APMC Act to allow the  
free movement of foodgrains across states on the basis of unregulated  
pricing.  This has serious implications for the country’s food  
security in the future.  Whatever little protection the farmers were  
getting through MSP procurement will end. This will also destroy  
whatever little of the public distribution system that is existing in  
the country. These measures, importantly, will open the way for the  
entry of big multinational agrobusiness and domestic corporates to  
fully access India’s agricultural produce and markets. This is a  
recipe for the destruction of Indian agriculture.


Bihar Assembly Elections

The defeat of the BJP-JD(U) alliance in Bihar is imperative both for  
safeguarding the interests of the people in Bihar and in India.  The  
three state level Left parties – CPI(M), CPI, CPI(ML) – have jointly  
declared that the Left will cooperate with all other forces who are  
interested in achieving this objective.

The BJP has begun its feverish preparations for these elections. It  
has launched a massive digital campaign utilizing all resources at its  
command.

The CPI(M) and the Left parties have opposed the proposal of the state  
Election Commission, which is backed by the BJP and JD(U), to conduct  
these elections exclusively through digital campaigning and digital  
voting.  This will exclude vast numbers from participating in the  
electoral process undermining democracy.  Further, it has been proved  
by international experience, as well, that such methods of campaign  
and voting is subject to extremely high levels of manipulation. This  
will distort people’s mandate.

It is the responsibility of the Election Commission to ensure that  
proper conditions prevail for the conduct of proper elections, with a  
level playing field for all contestants, through proper campaigning  
methods and physical voting by the people.

Under the conditions of a surging pandemic, it is the task of the  
Election Commission and the administration to ensure the safety of the  
people and to provide conditions for the conduct of normal elections.

Given the gross misuse of money power by the BJP, the Election  
Commission of India must pursue its submissions to the apex court  
pointing out the dangers that electoral bonds pose, distorting the  
democratic election processes and depriving people of exercising an  
informed choice.  These electoral bonds must be scrapped  and not  
allowed to be issued before any elections in the future.

Jammu & Kashmir

Even after nearly a year of the abrogation of Article 370 and 35(A),  
large-scale detention of thousands of people including all prominent  
political leaders, the virtual disruption of regular socio-economic  
life of the people and curtailing communication network, the situation  
continues to remain critical. During the period of the national  
lockdown that was imposed over and above the political lockdown in  
Jammu & Kashmir for nearly a year, the Central government has altered  
the definition of domicile status to permit people from outside to  
procure government jobs and purchase property, thereby bringing about  
a demographic transformation in the Kashmir valley.  Serious  
violations of people’s democratic rights and civil liberties continue  
with all dissentors being treated as anti-national elements and booked  
under draconian laws.

The new media policy announced in the now Union Territory of Jammu &  
Kashmir legalizes the control of the bureaucracy and security  
officials over what can be published or not.  Thereby, abrogating the  
Constitutional guarantee to the right to free speech and expression.

The Central Committee demands that all those detained since August  
2019 must be released, full communications must be restored and the  
free movement of people allowed. This is essential for both combating  
the pandemic effectively and providing relief to the beleaguered people.

Central Committee Demands

The Central Committee, under these circumstances, has put forward the  
following essential demands before the Central government:

1) Immediate cash transfer of Rs. 7,500 per month for the next six  
months to all families outside the income tax bracket.

2) Immediate distribution of free foodgrains of 10 kg per individual  
per month for the next six months for all the needy.

3) Expand MGNREGA to ensure at least 200 days of work a year with  
enhanced wages.  Promulgate an Urban Employment Guarantee Act.  
Announce unemployment allowance to all the unemployed.

4) Scrap the proposal to repeal the Interstate Migrant Workmen Act  
(Regulation of Employment & Conditions of Services) Act 1979 and, on  
the contrary, strengthen the Act.

5) Increase Central expenditure on public health to at least 3 per  
cent of the GDP.

6) Scrap the ordinances that remove the Essential Commodities Act and  
to amend the APMC Act to allow free movement of foodgrains across  
states on the basis of unregulated pricing.

7) Withdraw all proposals to abolish/amend/suspend existing labour laws.

8) Scrap privatization of public sector undertakings, especially  
Indian railways and in electricity, petroleum, coal, banks/insurance,  
defence production sectors.

9) Transfer all funds collected in a private trust fund bearing the  
PM’s name to the States who are in the forefront of combating the  
pandemic.

10) As the Disaster Management Act has been invoked for combating the  
pandemic, announce a one-time financial assistance to the families of  
victims who succumbed to the pandemic in accordance with the National  
Disaster Relief Fund provisions.

11) Strictly implement reservations for SC/ST/OBCs & disabled.  Fill  
up all backlog posts.

12)  Examine and award degrees to the final year graduate and  
post-graduate students on the basis of their previous semesters’  
performance.

13)  Immediately release all those who have been detained since August  
2019 in Jammu & Kashmir. Restore full communications and allow free  
movement of people.

14) Release all political prisoners in jails detained under draconian  
laws like UAPA, NSA, Sedition Act.

15) Withdraw Environment Impact Assessment 2020.

16) Punish the perpetrators of growing caste violence against Dalits,  
domestic and sexual violence against women and exploitation of the  
tribals.

Central Committee Calls

1.	Highlighting this demand charter, the Central Committee has called  
upon all units of the Party to observe a protest week from August 20  
to 26 all over the country adhering to the required restrictions and  
precautions.

2.	The Central Committee extends the Party’s support and solidarity to  
the call for an all-India protest action given by the trade unions,  
the kisan sabhas and the agricultural labour unions on August 9, 2020.



For CPI(M) Central Committee Office