Vol. XLVIII No. 41 October 13, 2024

A View of Wayanad

THE little girl has a smile that would light up the darkest space. Stretching out her little hands, she greets us, three strangers, P K Sreemathi, C S Sujatha and myself as though she knows us. We are here in Meppady to meet affected families of the Wayanad tragedy. Even two months later, so deep is the trauma that none of the survivors we meet speak...

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Imperialism’s Striving for Expansion

THE “inevitable striving of finance capital”, Lenin had written in Imperialism, (is) “to enlarge its spheres of influence and even its actual territory”. He was writing of course in a world marked by inter-imperialist rivalry, where this striving took the form of a competitive struggle between rival finance capitals that speedily completed the partitioning of the world, leaving no “empty spaces”; only a repartitioning of the world was thenceforth...

France Raises Aero-Engine Stakes: Game-Changer?

IN the past few weeks, during exchange visits to India and France by security officials, France has seriously upped the ante on its competitors regarding provision of advanced defence hardware and, more importantly, technology transfer to India. The new French offers come at a time when the US is making big strides compared to its earlier hesitation in offering sophisticated defence equipment with technology transfer, seeking to cement...

One Nation One Election: Recipe for Sabotaging the Constitution

AMIDST the backdrop of the ruling dispensation's diminishing fortunes in recent and current electoral contexts, the shrill noise over one nation, one election (ONOE) in its first appearance gives the impression that it is an exercise in sloganeering, yet another ‘jumla’. This echoes similar slogans by the BJP-led dispensation, such as one nation, one tax, one nation, one national language, and so on. However, it...

A Communist for Our Times

SITARAM Yechury, general secretary of the CPI(M), who passed away on September 12, belonged to the first batch of MA (Economics) students of Jawaharlal Nehru University; the faculty at the newly-established Centre for Economic Studies and Planning consisted of six members, of whom three including myself were in their late twenties with no previous experience of teaching in India while even our senior colleagues were only in their thirties. As the students were mostly turning twenty,...

WB: Sitaram Yechury: A Champion of Freedom and Fighter against Fascism

COMRADE Sitaram Yechury, a revolutionary visionary leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), was a pioneer in recognising the grave threat posed by the fascist RSS's Hindutva ideology early on. Until his last breath, he dedicated his life to combating this right-wing, communal fascism. This was the view expressed by Prakash Karat, Polit Bureau member of the CPI(M) at a memorial meeting...

On SC Judgment

CPI(M) welcomes the judgment of the Supreme Court which directs the central and state governments to take steps to end the practices of caste discrimination in prisons/jails. The judgment delivered by the three judge bench headed by CJI is an important intervention by the judiciary in the much-needed battle against the obnoxious caste system.

CPI(M) Expresses Solidarity with Ladakhi Activists on Hunger Strike

CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat and John Britas, member of parliament visited the site of indefinite hunger strike by Sonum Wangchuk and several others from Ladakh, on October 7 to express solidarity. It is a reflection of the authoritarian nature of the Modi government that the 150 activists from Ladakh who had come in a peaceful padayatra all the way to the capital were not allowed to sit on...

Odisha: Remembering Sitaram Yechury - A Legacy of Unity and Justice

A STATE-level condolence meeting was held at Jayadev Bhawan in Bhubaneswar on September 22 to honour the late Sitaram Yechury, general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Leaders from various political parties and progressive intellectuals gathered to pay tribute to this renowned Marxist thinker, eminent parliamentarian, and visionary leader of contemporary India.

AP: Fighting Neo-Fascism is Linked to Fighting Neo-Liberal Policies

FIGHTING neo-fascism today is intrinsically connected to the fight against neo-liberal policies, said Prof. Prabhat Patnaik at a seminar in Visakhapatnam on October 6, 2024. The seminar on "Leninism, Socialist Revolution, and Contemporary Imperialism" was organised by the Visakhapatnam district committee of the CPI(M) as part of the year-long observance of the death centenary of Comrade Lenin. The...

Bihar: A Tribute to a Visionary Leader Sitaram Yechury

TRIBUTES flowed during a state-level condolence meeting for Sitaram Yechury, general secretary of CPI(M), organised by the Bihar state committee of CPI(M) on October 1, 2024, at Ravindra Bhawan, Patna. Over 1,000 workers, peasants, women, youth, students, and intellectuals, gathered to honour Sitaram Yechury, who passed away unexpectedly on September 20.