The Left and Communist parties in the newly carved-out state of Telangana have reminded the KCR-led government of the promises made to the people before and after the first assembly elections in the state and warned it of mass struggles if it failed to live up to the people’s expectations. They also cautioned the new government against adopting neo-liberal policies that will come in the way of the people’s welfare and all-round development of the state. The parties – CPI(M), CPI, CPI(ML) New Democracy, MCPI(U), CPI (ML) Liberation, CPI (ML), RSP, Forward Bloc and SCUCI (C) – have issued the following joint declaration after a meeting in Hyderabad on August 28: TELANGANA has come into being as the 29th state of the country. The Telangana Rashtriya Samithi (TRS) has assumed power after the first elections to the state assembly in the background of a protracted movement conducted on the basis of the region remaining backward in the composite state of Andhra Pradesh and everybody getting access to water, funds and employment in case a separate state is carved out. The people being hopeful of their problems being solved if Telangana state was formed are now eagerly looking forward for the same under the new administration. We sincerely hope that the new Telangana state gets all-round development and all necessary steps are taken to improve the standard of living of the people and to increase employment avenues and economic, industrial and agricultural policies necessary for that are implemented in the state. During the election campaign, many assurances were given and promises made to the people. These include many heavy promises like loan waiver to farmers, distribution of three acres of land to each Dalit and tribal family, construction of houses, increase in pension, regularisation of contract workers, free education from ‘KG to PG’ (Kindergarten to Post-graduation), creation of new jobs and irrigation projects for peasants etc. Even after coming to power, Chief Minister KCR (Kalwakuntla Chandrasekher Rao) declared in the Assembly and outside that all the election promises would be implemented. We, the Left and Communist parties, want the government to remain committed to implementing these promises. The neo-liberal policies being implemented in the present globalisation regime are against government spending and subsidies. If our rulers follow these very policies, these will come in the way of the people’s welfare and all-round development of the state. The new heads of the state government should realise that securing welfare of the people in the state is impossible without opposing the economic policies of liberalisation. Unlike that if, putting aside the promises made to the people, any attempt is made to hand over the government’s resources to the big business and corporate forces in the name of industrial development the people are not going to tolerate, we want to caution. If the rulers choose that way, all such attempts will have to be opposed through mass movements. The population of poor and economically weaker sections is more in Telangana. Ours is a society with feudal remnants abounding in a backward economy. The people in the villages of Telangana are still reeling under feudal authoritarian repression apart from caste, religion and gender discrimination. In such a situation, the agenda of securing social justice comes to the fore. Social justice does not only mean to provide political offices to some and economic opportunities to some others from lower castes. The habit of our rulers seems to restrict social justice to such actions only. Unlike that the situation needs to be changed in a way that the benefit reaches the entire population belonging to Dalit and weaker sections and they are all able to live honourably. Only wiping out all trends of caste domination totally in Telangana society will impart proper meaning to social justice. The government has been saying that it will give importance to SC/ST welfare and spend Rs 50,000 crore for the purpose. Despite announcing with all fanfare the programme of distribution of land to Dalit and tribals, in practice the TRS government is diluting it and reducing it into a programme in name only. Though the SC/ST Sub Plan Act was passed two years ago, so far no rules have been framed to implement it. Though untouchability is still prevalent there is no specific programme against it. We protest this tendency of the rulers to have their deeds quite at variance with their words. We declare that we shall constantly strive for social justice and struggle in unity with all individuals, institutions and forces belonging to the Dalit community, backward and weaker sections who are to be partners in this enterprise. Development does not mean that of Hyderabad only. For that matter, even in Hyderabad city the condition of slums and the poor is very wretched. The correct meaning of all-round development will be to reach minimum facilities like education, health services, irrigation water, drinking water and residential units etc. to every remote village and to the poor in towns in Telangana. We, the Communist and Left Parties, want that for ensuring all-round development the government follows decentralisation by the rules. The capitalist system is the root cause of inequality. Capital will fly to where profit is. The all-round development of the state is impossible by private capital which works with the aim of profit only. Therefore, we strongly believe that public sector should be given prominence and that it is necessary to give preference to public investment in education, health, agriculture, industry, irrigation and drinking water etc. sectors. We will constantly strive for increasing the consciousness of the people so that pressure can be brought upon the government for such actions to be taken. We believe that though there are two states the Telugu people are one. The two states marching on the path of development and our moving ahead depends upon mutual cooperation and goodwill. Naturally the two governments will have to follow the system of solving the problems arising between the two states in a spirit of harmony through mutual discussions. Any tendency of behaving other than in this manner will be perceived as tactics to divert the attention of the people from the administrative failures. We caution the people to be alert about such dirty efforts of the rulers. The communal BJP has come to power at the Centre. It has fast-tracked implementation of the economic policies of the previous UPA government. It is inviting private and foreign investment in all the strategic economic sectors. It is further sharpening its policies of communalism and Hinduism in the social arena. We deem this turn of events as a reactionary turn in the political system of the country and more dangerous for the people. In the 80 days of Narendra Modi’s rule, communal clashes have taken place in many places. The Hindutva forces are working to a plan to provoke division among the people along communal lines by utilising every opportunity. We declare that the Communist and Left parties will strive for mobilising the secular forces in the country against this danger. The Communist and Left parties recognise the necessity of building alternative cultural movement to expose the bourgeois and feudal way of thinking currently ruling the society. Special efforts are needed for removing the caste divisions which are a hurdle for class unity. We bring it to the notice of the people that it is necessary to conduct economic, social and political struggles unitedly at the same time to ward off effectively the continuing attacks on the rights of working class under the neo-liberal economic policies. In the form of whichever party the bourgeois and feudal rulers might be, in however many ways they create new illusions for the people, it is not possible for them to fulfil the hopes and aspirations of the people except in practice subjecting them to more exploitation and oppression. It is a fact that only Communist and Left parties have got the scientific understanding and ideological clarity capable of providing solutions to all the problems faced by humanity. In the days to come we will work in the state of Telangana in keeping with the hopes and aspirations of the people. We shall conduct uncompromising struggles against neo-liberal economic policies and communal, Manu-istic ideology. We appeal to the people to extend their help and cooperation and participate in these efforts by us in the new Telangana state.