Q: Why CPI(M) did not participate in Patna anti-BJP rally on August 27, whereas almost all anti-BJP parties including Left parties like CPI and RSP were present?

Asok Majumdar

The rally in Patna on August 27 organised by Lalu Prasad Yadav and the RJD was meant to be a display of opposition unity. It was held to reiterate the call for mahagatbhandan against the BJP at the national level.

Q. What is the CPI(M)’s basic stand on GST?

                                        Sarvartrik Brahma, Kolkata

THE Central Committee of the CPI(M) in its meeting held from July 24 to 26, 2017 has adopted a resolution on Goods & Services Tax, which sets out its basic stand on GST. Earlier the Party had in a piecemeal fashion reacted to some aspects of GST particularly of how the GST would affect state governments and their rights.

Q: Prabhat Patnaik in his column in the Peoples’ Democracy (Vol. XLI No. 19) wrote: “As Trumpism, and the ultra-Right in general, comes a cropper, since it does not face the basic issue of the hegemony of finance, and as the Left acquires greater clarity on the need for delinking from globalisation in the event of the hegemony of finance continuing to persist, the bankruptcy of the “liberal bourgeois” position will drive more and more working people into supporting the Left.

These days, when I view the electronic media and when I come across many of my fellow comrades, I get the impression that we have failed to impress the common people and raise their basic problems.   Have we become merely a force which reacts to developments?

S Baruah

The issue you have raised has many aspects.

Why is the CPI(M) so biased towards Muslims and Islamic fundamentalism, ignoring and criticising the sentiments of Hindus and their thousands year-old culture?

Sagarneel Sinha, Kailashahar, Tripura

The question itself reveals a biased opinion of how the CPI(M) views Hindus and Muslims and their respective religions.

Let us take the issue step by step.