ON August 6, 2014, a large rally of nearly 3,000 people, predominantly youth, marked the beginning of the CPI(M) Vidhan Sabha election campaign in Solapur with tremendous enthusiasm. The participants came from all over Solapur city and also from the adjoining rural areas. Most of them were working class youth and they hailed from all religions and castes. The Party district committee, all Party branches and Party whole-timers had made sustained efforts for the success of this rally.

The rally which was presided over by veteran Party leader Allahbaksh Patel, was addressed by CPI(M) Central Secretariat member and ex-MP Nilotpal Basu, Central Committee member and state secretary Dr Ashok Dhawale and Central Committee member, Vidhan Sabha candidate and ex-MLA, Narsayya Adam.

The introductory remarks were made by state committee members M H Shaikh and Sidhappa Kalshetty. Party corporator Mashappa Vite delivered the vote of thanks and the proceedings were conducted by Anil Wasam.

Addressing the rally, Nilotpal Basu attacked the policies of the new BJP-led NDA central government, saying that they were no different from those of the Congress-led UPA regime. The assurances given by the BJP in its manifesto had no chance of being fulfilled in practice, considering the policy measures that they had already begun to push. With the increase in railway passenger fares, freight charges, diesel and petrol, and all other essential commodities, people were beginning to say that there was little difference between the Narendra Modi and Manmohan Singh regimes. This was crystal clear from the latest union budget.

On top of all this was the communalisation of society that was being consciously carried out by the BJP-RSS after coming to power. The riots in Uttar Pradesh and in other states, the attempt to raise their three pet issues of the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya, the Uniform Civil Code and Article 370 of the Constitution in various ways were a pointer to their communal conspiracies. But the big difference this time was that their communalisation drive had the full support of the corporate lobby. He called upon the audience to understand all these challenges and to work vigorously to ensure the victory of the CPI(M) in this election.

Dr Ashok Dhawale criticised the anti-people and pro-corporate policies of both the BJP-led central government as well as the Congress-led state government. Speaking about the grave problems facing the lakhs of unorganised workers in Solapur and all over Maharashtra, he said that the Congress regimes in both centre and state did nothing to ensure them a minimum living wage and social security for all these years.  And now the BJP regime is going many steps further by proposing to amend labour laws and introduce the ‘Hire and Fire’ principle in favour of the capitalists and against the workers. Along with price rise, this will lead to even greater unemployment. Corruption in Maharashtra has also increased by leaps and bounds, as seen in the Adarsh Society scam, the irrigation scam, the co-operative sector scam and so on, in all of which not only Congress-NCP but also Shiv Sena-BJP leaders were involved.

Recalling the dastardly murder in Pune recently of the young techie Mohsin Shaikh who hailed from Solapur, and the shocking incident of Shiv Sena MPs force-feeding a fasting Muslim employee of the Maharashtra Sadan in New Delhi, he called on the rally to fight communalism of all types tooth and nail and to defend secularism and communal harmony. Stressing the militant struggles of the working class and the peasantry led by the CPI(M), CITU and AIKS in Solapur, and also the constructive works carried out by the Party like the Comrade Godutai Parulekar Women Beedi Workers Housing Scheme of 10,000 houses, he called upon the people to look upon the coming election as their own battle and thus ensure the victory of the CPI(M) and LDF candidate Narsayya Adam.

In the concluding speech of the rally, Narsayya Adam dealt with the murky situation in the Congress-NCP and in the Shiv Sena-BJP in Solapur. Alleging that both these combinations had made a mess of Solapur city and district and, in fact, the whole of Maharashtra, he said that only alternative policies propounded by the Left and secular forces can save Maharashtra and also the country. He called upon the rally to reject the communal forces and the anti-people policies of both the Congress and BJP regimes and to ensure the victory of the Left forces.

The same evening an enthusiastic Party general body meeting was held in Solapur. It was presided over by Venkatesh Kongari, and was addressed by Nilotpal Basu, Dr Ashok Dhawale and Narsayya Adam. Here the political and organisational aspects of the election campaign were stressed. On the previous day, August 5, meetings of the Party’s district secretariat and district committee were held to take stock of the election preparations and to plan for the campaign ahead. A well-attended press conference was also held in Solapur on August 5.