The following are some of the state reports we have received on the protests against the railway and freight fare hike. TRIPURA THE first ‘gift’ of “good days” to the Aam Admi from the Modi government forced the people of Tripura to take to streets despite heavy downpour on June 22. Braving the rainy weather prevailing for the preceding few days, with monsoon in its full force, protest demonstrations were organised at the call of the CPI(M) at a number of places in the state. As the railway minister announced the decision to hike the passenger fare across the board by 14.2 percent and freight charges by 6.5 percent, toeing the anti-people line of the recently ousted Congress led UPA government, the CPI(M)’s Tripura state secretariat decided to launch a sustained protest movement at various levels. It was in response to the call of the Polit Bureau. On Sunday, June 22, therefore protest marches and street corner meetings were organised in the Ramnagar, Krishnanagar, Joynagar, Melarmath, Agartala and numerous other places despite incessant raining. The meeting in East Agartala after a militant protest march was presided over by CPI(M) Sadar district committee member and mayor of Agartala Municipal Corporation, Dr Prafullajit Sinha, and addressed by district committee members Amal Chakraborty and Dulu Mallik. At Kanchanpur in North Tripura district, the protest meeting was organised by Kanchanpur local committee. In Langtarai valley subdivision, protest march was organised by the DYFI, TYF, SFI and TSU. On June 21, the DYFI state committee organised protest meetings in front of the railway stations across the state. In front of the Agartala station, the protest meeting was addressed by DYFI state president Pankaj Ghosh, state secretary Amal Chakraborty and SFI state secretary Nabarun Deb. State transport minister and CPI(M) state secretariat member Manik Dey sharply criticised the decision of hike in passenger fare and freight charges. Replying to the questions from mediapersons, he asked: if the new government was trying to justify the decision as one taken by the earlier government, then what was the difference between it and the previous Congress led government? He said while there is no decision to link all the district headquarters with a rail line and accelerate the pace of work in the long pending railway projects of the state, such a steep hike in passenger fare and freight charges will only lead to further burdens on the people. He demanded that these decisions should be immediately reversed. (Rahul Sinha) MAHARASHTRA CPI(M) district units in Maharashtra swung into action to denounce the massive rail fare hike imposed by the Narendra Modi-led BJP-NDA government less than a month after assuming office. The surreptitious act was done in a most undemocratic fashion --- even before its first railway budget that is due next week --- and behind the back of the parliament. When the Congress led UPA regime had done the same thing once earlier, the BJP had gone hammer and tongs at them. And now its own government is doing exactly the same thing. In various other ways also, the BJP-led central government is going back on its election pledges and is taking policies that are further fuelling price rise for the common people. There are already clear indications that the Narendra Modi regime is preparing to shower an unprecedented bonanza on the corporate lobby that liberally financed the BJP’s lavish election campaign. This will soon become clear from the ensuing union budget. Apart from the dastardly attack of the rail hike on both passenger fares and freight charges, all these other policy issues were also raised by the CPI(M) in the large and spirited protest actions that were held from June 21 to 24 in different districts of Maharashtra. Thousands of leaflets were printed and distributed among the people by the party during these actions. In the state capital Mumbai, two protest actions were held on June 23 --- one outside the Dadar railway station and the other outside the Bhandup railway station. The Dadar protest was led by CPI(M) state secretary Dr Ashok Dhawale, state secretariat member Mahendra Singh, state committee members Shailendra Kamble, Dr S K Rege, Sonya Gill, Ashok Banerjee and others. The Bhandup protest was led by state committee members Sayeed Ahmed, Dr Vivek Monteiro, district secretariat members Hemkant Samant, Adv Armaity Irani and others. In Thane district, three protest actions were held on June 23 and 24 --- at the Dahanu railway station, at the Talasari national highway and at the Jawhar district collectorate. The largest action was a 2000 strong march in Jawhar. These actions were led by CPI(M) state secretariat members Rajaram Ozare, MLA, and Mariam Dhawale, state committee members L B Dhangar, Barkya Mangat, Edward Vartha, Ratan Budhar, district secretariat members Ladak Kharpade, Sangeeta Ozare, Radka Kalangada, Raja Gahala and others.    In Solapur city, a large demonstration was held on June 23 and it was led by the CPI(M)’s Central Committee member and ex-MLA Narsayya Adam, state committee members M H Shaikh, Sidhappa Kalshetty, Naseema Shaikh and others. A memo was given to railway authorities. In Nashik district, a 2500 strong march was organised on June 24 at the rural tehsil centre of Chandwad and this was led by CPI(M) state committee member Kisan Gujar and by Shabbir Syed, Asha Jadhav, Kailas Balsane, Nanda More, Rajaram Thakare and others. An immediate protest action was held at Latur on June 22 and this was led by the CPI(M)’s former state secretariat member Dr Vithal More, district secretary Dr Sangram More, Sudhakar Shinde, Vishwambhar Bhosale, Jeevanrao Deshmukh, Sanjay More and others. News from other centres have yet to come in while filing this report. DELHI HUNDREDS of activists of the CPI(M), under the leadership of its Delhi state committee, demonstrated at Rail Bhawan in New Delhi against the steep hike railway passenger fare by the Modi government. It was in response to a call of nationwide protest against the anti-people fare hike given by the CPI(M). When media asked to minister of railways, Sadanand Gowda, about the steep hike in passenger fare, he shamefully replied that originally this proposal was mooted by UPA government and that he was only implementing the decision of the previous government to generate revenue for the railways. It is ironical that while the Modi government came to power by criticising the UPA for its anti-people policies, now the same government is implementing the same policies pursued by the previous government. At the protest demonstration and rally, CPI(M) leaders asked if the Modi government is here to implement the policies of UPA government! Then, how was it different from the previous government as far as the anti-people economic policies are concerned? Leaders also asked the Modi government what happened to its “ache din” (good days) promise. They said an increase in fare without taking the parliament into confidence was against the basic norms of democracy. It meant the people’s representatives had ad no say in the decision making process of the Modi government, the leaders said. The demonstrators were led by CPI(M) state secretariat and state committee members like K M Tiwary, Asha Sharma and Anurag Saxena, and CPI(M) of CPI(M) Central Secretariat member V Shriniwas Rao. PUNJAB CITU workers held rallies and halted road and rail traffic in protest against the increase in rail and bus fares at Chandigarh and various places in Punjab. On June 22, at the call of the CITU, rallies, gate meetings and traffic jams were organised at several places in Punjab in protest against the heavy increase of 14.5 percent in rail passenger fare and 6.5 percent increase in freight charges by Modi government in the centre and Re 0.8 per kilometre increase in bus fare by the Badal led Akali-BJP government of Punjab. State CITU general secretary Raghunath Singh and other CITU leaders like Jatenderpal Singh, Tarsem Jodhan, Mahinder Kumar Badhonan, Hanuman Parsad Dubey, Gurdev Singh Bagi, Gareeb Das Beetan and Chadhaury Jagdish etc addressed the protest rallies at Ludhaina, Satnor (district Hoshiarpur), Ropar, Nangal, Barnala, Bathinda, Asron and many other places. Punjab CITU, while calling upon the working class of Punjab to continue the protest rallies and demonstrations against increases in the rail and bus fares, said that united struggles would be launched and continued against the anti-people policies of the central as well as state government. HARYANA THE Haryana state secretariat of the CPI(M) has asked all its units to organise protest demonstrations along with various trade unions and mass organisations against the unprecedented hike in the rail fares and freight charges. Calling the step as anti-people and merciless, CPI(M) state secretary Inderjit Singh expressed strong objection to the manner in which the Modi government took the decision just before the railway budget presentation. Singh also said the CPI(M) strongly objects to the profit and loss theory in case of a huge public utility like the railways. He said the BJP is actually seeking to encourage the private transport sector by making the railways an increasingly costly means of transportation in its competition with the private sector. JAMMU & KASHMIR ON June 21, the Jammu regional committee of the CPI(M) held a meeting in its office chamber under the chairmanship of Sham Prasad Kesar, regional secretary of the party. The meeting strongly condemned the decision of the Modi government to increase the rail fare and freight a few days before the budget session of parliament is going to be started. It is an anti-people step taken by the railway minister and it will hard hit the budget of the common people who are already facing the brunt of skyrocketing price rises. It will raise the prices of essential commodities including vegetables, pulses, grains, cooking oils, LPG, kerosene oil, cement and iron rods etc. The decision has vindicated the CPI(M)’s evaluation that there is no difference between the economic policies of the Congress and the BJP; that both are the two sides of the same coin. The CPI(M) regional committee demanded immediate withdrawal of this decision, and is going to chalk out a plan of action. More reports are awaited.