HUNDREDS of CPI(M) activists gathered at the office of Resident Commissioner of the government of West Bengal on May 16, 2018, to protest against the murderous attack on CPI(M) cadres in the state. In the recently held panchayat elections more than 40 people were killed. Among them large number were from minorities, dalit and tribal communities. Addressing the gathering, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat said that this Mamta Brand Murder of Democracy has two aspects.
MORE than 30,000 employees of over 87 municipal corporations, municipal committees and councils have been on strike since May 9, on their demands including regularisation of contract workers.
AS apprehended, West Bengal witnessed massive violence and murderous attacks on people during voting in the panchayat election on May 14. TMC armed gangs captured hundreds of booths in almost all districts, chased away voters and cordoned off villages to force people to remain indoors. Opposition polling agents were driven out from booths. The ruling party goons fired on people, hurled bombs and in many cases snatched ballot boxes.In the mayhem, 29 people have been killed.
THE All India Democratic Women’s Association, in a statement issued on May 14, has condemned the shocking statement reportedly made by the vice chancellor of AYUSH, Baldev Kumar Dhiman, claiming that ayurveda can help in the selection of gender before conception. Not only does this display a completely unscientific mindset, the statement also violates the PcPNDT Act which makes sex selection illegal, whether before or after conception.
THE All India Agricultural Workers Union (AIAWU), in a statement issued on May 14, has condemned the brutal murders, the destruction of rural democratic institutions like the panchayats and the gross violation of the right to life by the murderous gangs of the TMC in West Bengal who are out to finish whatever rights the poor have to protect themselves from the brutal attacks of goons defended by the state machinery.The murders of 12 people are reported in a climate of widespread destruction of public and private property, with the state machinery either refusing to act or even helping these
ON May 12, the US walked out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCOPA) agreement, signed between the five Security Council Permanent members plus Germany (P5+1), and Iran. This agreement was a quid pro quo between the P5+1 countries and Iran. The agreement was for global sanctions against Iran ending, in lieu of dismantling a significant part of its nuclear programme. Iran fulfilled its part of the bargain, and this has been verified by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in its numerous visits to Iran.
THE Bharat Bandh on April 2 that was organised to protest the dilution of the SC/ST Act by the Supreme Court, paradoxically led to numerous atrocities committed against dalits in Madhya Pradesh.At a time when abuse, humiliation and violence are becoming more and more commonplace for dalits in most parts of the country, where rape, mutilation and barbarity are realities in the lives of dalit women, girls and infants, the danger of access to justice itself being curtailed was immediately understood by those to whom justice has been regularly denied in the name of custom, tradition and religio
THE South African Communist Party (SACP) conveys its revolutionary greetings to the entire leadership and membership of, and to all delegates attending the 22nd Congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
THE 22nd Congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) notes the growing discontent among the working class and other sections of the toiling people including the peasants and agricultural workers against the policies being implemented by the BJP led government at the centre.
ON May 3, 2018, around 35,000 adivasi peasant women and men, under the banner of the CPI(M) and the AIKS, held a massive rally at Dahanu in Palghar district. They came in their thousands from all the seven tehsils of Palghar district, viz Dahanu, Talasari, Vikramgad, Jawhar, Mokhada, Wada and Palghar and from the Shahapur tehsil of Thane district. There were over 15,000 women led by the AIDWA. There were thousands of youth led by the DYFI.