The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) met in New Delhi on July 6 & 7, 2015. It has issued the following statement on July 7. THE Polit Bureau discussed the report submitted by the three study groups appointed by the Central Committee earlier on the impact of liberalisation on different classes of people in: (a) rural India and agrarian sector; (b) on urban India and middle classes; and (c) socio-economic conditions of the working class. On the basis of these discussions the Polit Bureau will prepare a report for the consideration of the next Central Committee meeting, after which it will be taken up for discussion in the forthcoming plenum on organisation. EXPOSURE OF UNBRIDLED CORRUPTION The revelations in the IPL-Lalit Modi scam have exposed the roles of the union external affairs minister and the Rajasthan chief minister. A thorough enquiry into this whole scam must be conducted and until its findings are considered and appropriate action under the law taken, both these persons should demit office. Their continuation in such positions is not tenable during the enquiry period. The union minister for HRD has allegedly furnished false claims of proof regarding her educational qualification. In Maharashtra, two BJP ministers role in alleged cases of graft has been exposed. Many allegations against various other BJP state governments are in the news. CRIME & CORRUPTION: VYAPAM SCAM A deadly cocktail of crime and corruption has emerged in the Vyapam case in Madhya Pradesh. A large number of witnesses have been murdered under suspicious circumstances. This includes a number of key witnesses, deans of educational institutions investigating such cases of graft and prominent journalists who were reporting on this scam. The state government had not undertaken any serious action so far. The CPI(M) Polit Bureau demands that a thorough enquiry by the CBI under the supervision of the Supreme Court must be conducted into this sordid affair and the guilty should be identified and punished. This should be done with urgency in order to prevent further deaths related to this scam. Untill these investigations are completed it is untenable for the MP chief minister to continue in office. All these scams conclusively prove that corruption in high places has reached new heights under the crony capitalism being promoted by this Modi government. Its claims to have offered a “corruption free government” stand shattered. SOCIO-ECONOMIC CASTE CENSUS The data put in the public domain shows that the trajectory of neo-liberal economic reforms has resulted in a sharp decline in the living standards of a vast majority of our people. 90 per cent of the households reported an income of less than Rs 10,000 by its main breadwinner. Over half the households are landless. Similarly, over half rely on casual manual labour as the source of main sustenance. A mere three per cent of rural households have just one family member who is a graduate and so on. These revelations come over and above the international surveys by UN agencies that have described India as home for the world’s largest number of hungry people. The central government must not restrict any further release of the caste-wise information on socio-economic indicators collected by this Census. This would be for the first time since 1931 that the relative socio-economic status of various caste groups will be shown. This should help in framing policies for affirmative action that have been promised by various central governments but not implemented till date. SABOTAGING FOOD SECURITY Ignoring such ground realities, this BJP central government is mounting further attacks on people’s livelihood. The Food Security Act 2013 has specifically mentioned that the Act has to be implemented within a year of its passage, ie, July 2014. This BJP government has illegally extended its implementation three times without any reference to parliament. Further, in March this year, the food ministry passed a Public Distribution System (Control) Order which places conditions which are against the FSA. It freezes the number of beneficiaries for ten years from census to census. In other words, if populations fall into distress or even into categories defined as eligible for FSA benefits, say in 2013 these households will have to wait to be counted in the next census in 2021 to avail of benefits. The food ministry has also put conditions on states for reform in PDS as a precondition for central allocations of foodgrains under FSA. This is an open sabotage of the FSA law. PROTECTING ‘HINDUTVA’ TERROR A senor public prosecutor has recently revealed that in the 2008 Malegaon terrorist blast case she has been pressurised by the central National Investigation Agency to go soft in pursuing the case. Clearly the BJP central government is seeking to cover up the truth in this incident and those of the connected terrorist attacks in Ajmer Sharief, Hyderabad Mecca Masjid blasts and the Samjautha Express Attack. The legal proceedings in all these cases had begun after the central agencies had undertaken investigation of the Hindutva terror networks. In the Ishrat Jahan murder case in Gujarat, the BJP central government refused to grant sanction for prosecution of some Intelligence Bureau officials. The CBI after investigations had proceeded to chargesheet people connected with false encounters in Gujarat. Clearly the central and the Gujarat state BJP governments are working together to protect the perpetrators of such crimes. From various other parts of the country, incidents of sharpening communal polarisation and communal riots are being reported. These are a forewarning for the escalation of such activity in the run up to the forthcoming state assembly elections, particularly in Bihar. DETERIORATING CENTRE-STATE RELATIONS The prime minister has not found time again to attend a meeting of the North Eastern Council which consists of all the chief ministers of the eight north eastern states. Despite being a partner of the state government in Jammu & Kashmir, the BJP central government has announced a pittance for relief and rehabilitation of the victims of the unprecedented floods in the state. As against a claim of Rs 45,000 crores by the state, a mere Rs 1667 crores have been announced. Worse, of this, only Rs 551 crores are earmarked for families whose houses have been destroyed or severely damaged. FOREIGN POLICY: PRO-US, PRO-ISRAEL SHIFT The Polit Bureau condemned the reversal of longstanding Indian position of support to the Palestinian cause in the recent UN Human Rights Council vote. India’s decision to abstain, justified by the MEA as a continuation of our previous policy has been shown to be completely preposterous. On similar occasions, twice in the past, in March and June 2012, India voted for similar resolutions against Syrian government violations in its civil war. This abstention was on the adoption of a UN Enquiry Commission Report on Israel’s attack on innocent Palestinians in the Gaza strip last year. Such double standards clearly expose that India’s further pro-US and pro-Israeli shift is in preparation for the announced visit of PM Modi to Israel. He would be the first Indian PM to visit Israel. Palestine and many other Arab nations have expressed shock at India’s clean break from the ‘ethos of non-alignment’ of the past. Already doubts have begun to be aired on the support of the influential Arab speaking countries to India’s efforts to secure a permanent seat in the UN Security Council. Even after a month after the union defence minister signed the renewal of the 10-year Defence Framework Agreement between USA and India, the text of the agreement has been kept under wraps. This raises many suspicions of India succumbing to US pressures on this score. PROTEST ACTIONS The Polit Bureau called upon all its units in the country to observe the joint Left parties call for protest demonstrations on July 20 demanding the removal and action against those involved in the BJP’s patronage of corruption and nepotism.