Thousands of members of Pattikajathi Kshema Samithi (Scheduled Caste Welfare Organisation) affiliated to the Dalit Shoshan Mukti Manch marched to the government secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram on October 11, marking the culmination of the month long state-wide jatha which started from Kasaragod on September 15. Slogans of the march were to ensure land and housing for all the Scheduled Castes and to introduce reservation in the private sector.

THE reinvigoration of the Left in Bengal shall enthuse people’s movement across the country, and augment the struggle to oust BJP from the centre which is our primary task, said Sitaram Yechury, general secretary of CPI (M) while addressing a packed auditorium, at Pramod  Dasgupta Bhawan in Kolkata on the occasion of the 102nd anniversary of the formation of the Communist Party of India as an émigré unit in Tashkent in 1920. The meeting was presided over by CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Suryakanta Mishra. CPI(M) state secretary Md Salim also addressed the meeting.

ON October 11, Tamil Nadu witnessed a massive human chain programme organised across the state by political parties such as the Secular Progressive Front, comprising CPI(M), CPI, VCK, MDMK, and Congress, as well as other social and mass organiSations, to prevent the RSS from dividing people in the state along religious lines.During September, the RSS in the state had planned to organise a march in over 50 locations in Tamil Nadu on October 2, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, for which it sought police permission.

EVEN while strongly protesting the anti-farmer policies of the national governments and leading struggles from time to time, Kerala Karshaka Sangham had long been facilitating agricultural development in the state in different ways.

The CPI(M) Delhi state committee, in a statement issued on October 10, has strongly condemned the West Delhi BJP MP Parvesh Verma’s act of calling for ‘total boycott’ of the Muslim community at a meeting organised by the VHP on October 9. He openly exhorted the audience not to buy anything from Muslims and not to pay them wages. Adding further fuel to the fire, the VHP joint secretary Surendra Jain accused one community (read Muslims) of trying to turn Delhi into a mini Pakistan.