VOX POPULI: December 2010

Friday, December 31, 2010

P. CHIDAMBRAM SPEAKS IN THE LANGUAGE OF CPI (MAOIST) TO MALIGN CPI (M)

D.O. No. 119-CM

December 28, 2010

Dear Shri Chidambram,

Kindly refer to your secret letter dated 21/22 December, 2010 which had been published in the media before it reached my office on 27.12.2010 at 11 A.M.

Your assessment of the situation in the State of West Bengal is surprising and is far from an impartial overview of the situation. Maoists have spread from across the bordering states and with the help of small section of local people are creating problems mostly in 28 police stations in three districts of West Bengal. They are trying to create their own areas of dominance. They are indiscriminately killing political opponents and even innocent people. They are attacking police stations, police camps and looting arms. They are also engaged in large scale extortions and other unlawful activities.

You are fully aware of these activities of the Maoists. The greatest challenge is how to contain the Maoists and defeat them finally both administratively and politically.

In recent times State and Central Police through their joint efforts have achieved major successes. Peace and normalcy have been restored in vast areas. People who were evicted earlier are going back to their homes. Govt/Panchayat office are functioning normally and so are the schools, markets and shops. Life is gradually coming back to normalcy in these areas but still we have problem in the areas bordering our state. Trinamool Congress which was earlier maintaining secret contacts with Maoist leaders and outfits are now openly organising meetings with them.

CPI (M) and it allies are trying their best to resist the Maoists by mobilizing people against them and in the process have lost more than 170 of their workers and leaders. Unfortunately, you are now blaming them for the present state of affairs. I am afraid it will divert the attention of all concerned who are struggling against Maoists, the greatest threat to our internal security.

As regards political clashes mentioned in your letter I would like to correct your figures. 32 Trinamool Congress supporters have been killed and 601 have suffered injuries while CPI (M) have lost 69 of their cadres and another 723 have been injured. Indian National Congress has lost one of their supporters and 111 have been injured during the period mentioned in your letter. I, however, agree that it is not a happy situation and I am doing my best to stop these senseless killings. I have repeatedly appealed to all the opposition parties to cooperate. All the parties except Trinamool Congress have come forward to cooperate. Trinamool Congress has refused to talk to administration. I am trying to disarm and demoblise all armed groups engaged in violence in some pockets of the state.

I strongly object to your using the word “Harmad” to mean the CPI (M) party workers without knowing the actual meaning of this nasty word coined by Trinamool Congress leaders.

More when we meet.

With regards,

Yours sincerely,

Sd/-

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee

Shri P. Chidambram

Union Home Minister

New Delhi-110 001

Monday, December 27, 2010

CONGRESS AFRAID JPC PROBE MAY BRING PM INTO AMBIT OF INVESTIGATION: YECHURY

ONE of the reasons behind the Congress party not agreeing to forming a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) to probe into the 2G spectrum scam could be that it is afraid that it would bring prime minister into the ambit of investigation since the former telecom minister A Raja had stated that he had kept the PM in loop on every decision he took.

This was stated by CPI (M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury while addressing an extended meeting of Party Andhra Pradesh state committee in Hyderabad on December 19, 2010. He felt that there is every possibility of a severe political crisis emerging in the nation on this issue and referred to the unprecedented total blocking of a complete session of parliament recently. Yechury blamed the Congress and the government for this and placed the onus on them for smooth running of at least the budget session of parliament.

Tracing these scams to the pursuit of neo-liberal policies being implemented by successive governments, Yechury felt that new avenues are opening up and creative methods are being employed in these scams. The unprecedented amounts of money from 2G spectrum scam and various other scams, including from illegal mining, are posing a serious threat to our democracy itself as was evident in Karnataka and other states in the form of money power influencing elections. Keeping this in mind, the CPI(M) Central Committee has decided to develop a nationwide movement along with non-BJP, non-Congress secular parties before the budget session of parliament.

Condemning the fifth increase of petro prices this year, Yechury charged the government of heaping greater economic burdens on people through its neo-liberal policies. With high unemployment levels both in organised and unorganised sector and an increase of general inflation rate by 20 per cent in this year alone, the CPI (M) has decided to intensify struggles against these policies. He stressed the need to bring pressure on the ruling classes to change its policies through these struggles.

Yechury said the major challenge before the Party today is to defeat the concerted efforts being made by the ruling forces to marginalise and isolate it. Because the CPI (M) and the Left Front are the only consistent force in fighting these neo-liberal policies, the ruling classes are making big efforts to target it. The violence in Bengal is an expression of these attacks and it needs to be fought politically not just by Bengal comrades alone but by the entire Party, he said. Referring to separate Telangana movement in the state, Yechury said the ruling classes also bring such divisive issues to the fore in order to isolate the Left. He counselled that this issue needs to be dealt in a careful manner.

CPI(M) Polit Bureau member and state secretary, B V Raghavulu, placing the political resolution in the extended meeting, charged the Congress party of playing with the future of the state by keeping the issue of separate Telangana issue simmering in an opportunistic manner. He was sceptical about the Congress finding a solution to the issue after the submission of Srikrishna Committee report by December 31. He felt the main bourgeois parties in the state want to keep this issue alive in order to divert the people's attention from real issues facing them. He reiterated the CPI(M) stand that the state would develop only if it remains integrated.

The conditions of people in the state worsened this year due to untimely rains, lack of governance due to bickering in the ruling Congress establishment, the non-implementation of welfare schemes etc. The economic development of the state has also taken a beating with the real estate sector in doldrums. Various working people of the state are agitating on their demands and it is being met with brute force from the government. Raghavulu said that the extended meeting of the Party needs to chalk out struggles on the immediate issues facing the people of the state, particularly of dalits, tribals, rural and urban poor etc. Genuine people's issues that are being sought to be pushed under the carpet need to be highlighted by the Party and it is imperative to stand by the people in their moment of crisis.

Source: www.pd.cpim.org/

P.CHIDAMBRAM PLAYS INTO THE HANDS OF MAMATA BANERJEE TO DEFEND MAOISTS

27 December 2010

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:

Home Minister’s Letter: Partisan Approach

The media has reported in detail the contents of a letter sent by the Union Home Minister to the Chief Minister of West Bengal regarding the alleged role of armed cadres of the CPI(M). These reports appeared in the media on December 25, after being briefed about its contents on the 24^th.

However, such a letter was not received by the Chief Minister till three days later on December 27.

This is a strange way of communication between the Union Home Minister and the Chief Minister of a state. The media is fully briefed about the letter even before the Chief Minister gets it. This shows that the purpose of the letter is to serve the political interests of the Trinamul Congress which is part of the Union Government.

The Union Home Minister owes an explanation for this partisan approach

Source: www.cpim.org/