THE Polit Bureau of CPI(M) has decided, along with Left parties, to launch broad people's protests against galloping price rise in the country. 

The Party also expressed deep concerns over growing incidents of communal violence, and "bulldozer politics", and has called upon all party units to work for maintaining peace and harmony, party general secretary Sitaram Yechury said in a press conference in Delhi on May 11.

 The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) met in Delhi on May 9-10.

"Hate and violence are being promoted to divert attention from the economic hardships. This has to end. We have called upon our units to mobilise all people who stand for peace and harmony," Yechury said.

Expressing concerns over the series of communal incidents reported from different parts of the country, Yechury said, "There is a sinister pattern to these incidents. Religious festivals like Ram Navmi and Hanuman Jayanti were used to unleash aggressive armed religious processions provoking communal violence".

"The prime minister's silence against the hate speeches and actions propagating bigotry is an eloquent testimony to the fact that such private armed mobs enjoy the luxury of official patronage," he said.

The Polit Bureau appealed to all sections of the people to maintain peace and to foil these sinister objectives of those spreading hate speech and violence to sharpen communal polarisation. The PB calls upon party units to independently and jointly work for maintaining peace and harmony, defending the rights of minorities.

On the recent and ongoing demolition drive in Jahangirpuri and other localities of Delhi, the CPI(M) said it is a part of the "nefarious efforts" to create tension and sharpen communal polarisation.

"Any removal of illegal structures should be in accordance with the law. Until alternative livelihood and shelter for the poor are ensured all demolitions should stop," Yechury said.  

The Polit Bureau also condemned the recent arrest and rearrest of Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani, and demanded rejection of the new delimitation in Jammu and Kashmir.

"Delimitation in J&K is politically motivated to change the demographic composition. It is the only Muslim dominated state in India... A fair delimitation as per Census would have given 51 seats to Kashmir and 39 to Jammu," Yechury said.

CPI(M) also slammed the government for hiding Covid deaths, quoting the recent World Health Organisation (WHO) report which pegged the number of deaths at over 47 lakh, compared to government figures of around 5 lakh deaths.

"There is not a single-family that has not been affected by Covid. This sort of undercounting of deaths is insulting the dead. This is inhuman," he said, adding that Rs 4 lakh compensation should be paid to the kin of those who died.

The CPI(M) Polit Bureau also slammed the government over continuing price rise, and opposed the privatisation of public sector enterprises, demanding the government stop the process of issuing more shares of the LIC.

On sedition law, Yechury welcomed the Supreme Court's decision of putting on hold the sedition law and expressed hope that the law is scrapped.

"Today SC has put on abeyance sedition law... It should lead to the ultimate scrapping of sedition law. We hope the court will proceed to remove this section from our law," he said.

"Government should not say it is examining the law and use it as an excuse to delay its scrapping," he added.

The Polit Bureau said that the government was forced to inform the Supreme Court that it will reconsider and reexamine the provisions of sedition law as the matter was being reviewed by the Supreme Court. It said the SC must not wait for this government's review and proceed to scrap Section 124-A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The Polit Bureau also observed that India has slipped further in World Press Freedom Index, 2022, and has placed India at 150 out of 180 countries, a slip from last year's rank of 142.