AS a result of the anti-people policies being followed by the BJP government at the centre, with wealth of the country getting concentrated in the hands of a few, the poor in the country have been struggling amidst economic disparities in the country, Prakash Karat, Polit Bureau member of the CPI(M), said.  The BJP rulers have been implementing the agenda of the RSS and are continuing their rule at the beckon of business people and the capitalists.  As a result of the failure of the government to allocate the mandated funds for the development of the downtrodden, their all-round development has come to a standstill, Karat said.  That is the reason why the demand for social justice and all-round development has been taking the shape of a movement all over the country, he explained. The Mahajana Padayatra undertaken by the CPI(M) in Telangana has issued a clarion call to the downtrodden people in the country, Karat said.  On the 126th day of the padayatra, Prakash Karat participated in it at Khammam on February 18. Later, he inaugurated Tammineni Subbaiah Bhavan constructed at Warangal Cross Roads in Khammam rural mandal.

Speaking on the occasion, Prakash Karat criticised that the central and state governments have been hatching a conspiracy to do away with the sub-plans intended for the welfare and economic development of dalits and tribals. In the recent central budget, sub-plan has found no place. With a view to watering down sub-plans, the BJP government at the centre had dispensed with the Planning Commission, he said. By diverting 80 percent of sub-plan funds in Telangana, chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has been competing with prime minister Modi in pushing the poor into the morass of dire poverty, Karat said. He demanded implementation of reservations in private sector, with unemployment increasing day by day and opportunities for jobs in the government getting skewed.

Opposing the decision of the Modi government to abolish the Planning Commission, the LDF government in Kerala and the Left Front government in Tripura have been implementing sub-plans independently and effectively.  While tribals constituted 30 percent of the population in Tripura, the LF government there stood in the first place in implementing welfare schemes in the country. It conferred them the right to undertake podu cultivation, Karat explained.

Karat hailed the Mahajana Padayatra as a march of struggle for the welfare of the poor in Telangana. He warned that, if KCR failed to make his approach clear on fulfilling the assurances given by his party by March 19, the Mahajana Padayatra would transform into another great movement. He congratulated Telangana state secretary of the CPI(M) Tammineni Veerabhadram, heading the padayatra, and other members of the team for undertaking this historic movement.

At another public meeting held in Khammam in connection with the padayatra, Veerabhadram dwelt at length on the failures of the TRS government in fulfilling its promises of providing double bedroom houses to the poor, giving three acres of land to the dalits, etc. He underscored the importance of waging militant struggles for achieving the demands of the poor and downtrodden. Veerabhadram demanded the government to bring about a comprehensive law for the upliftment of the hamalis and other workers working at agricultural market yards. He reminded that the padayatra taken up in Khammam district in 2003 for achieving Dummugudem project and the padayatra taken up by KVPS in 2012 for equitable share for SCs and STs in the budget, had yielded good results.  Telangana state secretariat members of the CPI(M) B Venkat and P Sudarsan Rao, Khammam district secretary P Venkateswara Rao, mother of Veerabhadram, Kamalamma and other leaders participated in the programmes.

B V Raghavulu, Polit Bureau member of the CPI(M), lashed out at the TRS government for the failure in fulfilling its promises even after three years of its rule.  Addressing a public meeting organised at Khammam on February 17 in connection with the Mahajana Padayatra, he pointed out that the TRS government, during the last two years, had incurred a debt of Rs 60,000 crores and asked it to explain as to how much of the amount has been spent for the SCs, STs, BCs, minorities and MBCs.  In the name of projects, the government has been doling out funds to contractors and that was the reason why it had incurred such a huge debt, Raghavulu noted.  He said that the CPI(M) would announce a comprehensive  plan of action for the movement at the “pulikeka” meeting that is going to be organised in Hyderabad on March 19 marking the conclusion of the Mahajana Padayatra. He announced that the CPI(M) is extending total support to the movement of the Telangana JAC headed by M Kodandaram demanding filling up of vacant posts in the government.

K Narayana, secretary of the national council of CPI, extended support to the Mahajana Padayatra and addressed a public meeting organised at Tanikella in Khammam district on February 13. Doing injustice to the families of those who had sacrificed their lives for separate Telangana state and joining hands with traitors of Telangana, KCR, with his arrogance of power, should be ashamed for denigrating Communists and criticising the Mahajana Padayatra, Narayana said. Having come to power by hoodwinking the people with dishonest promises and forcibly acquiring the lands of dalits and tribals, chief minister KCR will have to pay a price for it, he warned.  Stressing the need for unity of Lal and Neel flags in the country to fight back communal politics, Narayana asserted that all the Red flags in Telangana would unite and show what their strength is to KCR in the coming days.