JUNE 5, 2017 was a red letter day in the history of Maharashtra. On that day, practically the whole of rural and semi-urban Maharashtra came to a halt as part of a Maharashtra Bandh to support the historic statewide farmers’ strike that began on June 1. The call had been given jointly by several peasant organisations, among whom the AIKS is playing a major role.Hundreds of towns, mandis, roads, shops and government offices were closed down by lakhs of farmers who came on to the streets in solidarity with the demands of the strike.

FOR more than eight months since the then chief minister of Tamil Nadu J Jeyalalithaa was hospitalised in late September 2016, the state of government in Tamil Nadu has been nothing short of disastrous for the people of the state. Following the demise of Jeyalalithaa and the subsequent split in the AIADMK, the rival factions of the AIADMK have been far more preoccupied with the struggle for the capture of the AIADMK and the survival of the government than with anything else.

KASHMIR valley continues to be on boil and the volatile situation is yet another grim reminder of the failure of Narendra Modi led BJP government at the centre to address genuine political aspirations of the people. While in the last three-years, Modi has failed on all accounts on his promises made to the voters in 2014 elections, the policies of RSS and its prodigy BJP on Kashmir have been focused to muzzle the voices of dissent with brute force. This has further deepened alienation of Kashmiris and especially youth, who are at the forefront of uprising in Kashmir.

THE 24-hour strike call in Rayalaseema in Andhra Pradesh given by the CPI(M) and the CPI on May 24 against the negligent attitude of the state government toward the problems of the people of this drought-hit region was a resounding success. People from various walks of life lent their support to the bandh. It got tremendous response despite the repressive measures initiated by the Chandrababu Naidu government to foil it. A huge number of Left cadres was taken into preventive custody on the previous night and the state government made frenetic efforts to see that the bandh was a failure.

THE BJP has declared a war to unseat the Left Front government in Tripura. It is in consonance with its declared policy to marginalise the Left, particularly the CPI(M), as we straightforwardly and stoutly oppose their communal Hindutva ideology. But inevitably Tripura will be political Waterloo for the BJP, which is trying to manipulate the people’s mandate by muscle and money power, along with its Hindutva communalism. This was asserted by CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury in a crowded press conference at the CPI(M) Tripura state committee office on May 21.