Assamese Reject Citizenship Bill, BJP’s Communal Weapon Falls Flat

THE social life of Assam is in for a boil over Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016, a proposition to grant citizenship based on religion, in Assam. Public anxiety became visible when the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) visited the state.Assam has always been a sensitive place when it came to questions of ethnicity and nationality. However, the intensity with which people reacted to the bill was never seen in the recent history of Assam.People and organisations representing all communities in Assam have anxiously participated in the public hearing at Guwahati and Silchar.

‘Encounters’ of Minorities & Poor under Yogi Raj in UP

UTTAR Pradesh will be crime free – was the much-touted slogan of Yogi Adityanath after he became the chief minister. The illegal method of eliminating crime, aka ‘encounters’, started in 2017. “Thok do” (shoot them) was the dictum given to police officials to gun down criminals. It is a different matter that the chief miniter himself is facing 15 criminal cases and 143 MLAs of the state have criminal cases registered against them, of whom 83 are from the ruling BJP.The policemen are offered promotions in the wake of encounters.

100 Days of BJP-IPFT Repressive Rule in Tripura

YET another CPI(M) leader, Tapas Sutradhar of Panisagar Sub-Division under North Tripura district, was killed on June 18 by the BJP assassins. Sutradhar was the Party’s Panisagar sub-divisional committee member, state committee member of the All India Kisan Sabha, and former pradhan of Uttar Padmabill gram panchayat. His body was identified by the villagers the next morning. He was killed at Padmabill near his house, while he was returning from a marriage ceremony at night. His throat was found slit. It is a pre-planned political murder carried out by BJP assassins.

TAMIL NADU: CPI(M) Holds Week-long Rallies Across the State on People’s Issues

WITH an aim of raising awareness on Tuticorin massacre and to highlight the grievances of the people of Tamil Nadu, the state committee of CPI(M) has conducted rallies for a week, from June 8-14, across the state. These rallies originated from six corners of the state, namely Thiruvallur, Vellore, Nilgiris, Cuddalore, Ettayapuram and Kanyakumari and exposed the crony capitalist actions of the state and the centre.After campaigning in the districts along the way, the above rallies have converged at Trichy on June 14.

Journos Protest Assassination of Shujaat Bukhari

THE National Alliance of Journalists(NAJ) and its Delhi affiliate – Delhi Union of Journalists(DUJ) along with various other bodies all over the country have come out with solidarity statements at the assassination of Shujaat Bukhari. Massive protests have taken place in the Kashmir valley and a joint solidarity meeting has been held at the Press Club of India in Delhi, on June 18, called by the PCI, IWPC, Press Association and various other organisations. A black day protest in Delhi by the Delhi Union of Journalists was held on June 23, 2018.

Successful Nationwide Struggles by Road Transport Workers

ROAD transport workers and small vehicle operators conducted struggles across the country over their various demands including wage revision.Road transport workers of Maharashtra went on a surprise strike from June 9 against the unilateral announcement of a meagre increase in wages. The authorities threatened the workers that those who did not accept the wage revision should leave their jobs, paying the way for the government to engage contract workers in the arising vacancies. This provoked the workers and they went on the surprise strike without waiting for a strike call from the unions.

West Bengal: Study Circles on Communist Manifesto

TO commemorate the bicentenary of Karl Marx, CPI(M) West Bengal state committee has initiated statewide study circles on Communist Manifesto. As part of ideological-political training of Party members, study circles in all units of the Party were organised twice in 2017. The first topic was Party Programme, while the second was on Party Constitution. It was decided this year to observe 200 years of Karl Marx in a meaningful way. The study circle on Manifesto, the unparalleled revolutionary document, was scheduled to be held on May 5-6, on the birthday of Marx.

BJP Central Government Undermines Federalism

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, in a statement issued on June 17, has said that he is joining the protest rally to the prime minister’s residence on June 17, to express serious condemnation over the manner in which federalism, a fundamental feature of our constitution, is being undermined by this BJP central government.Utilising the office of the governors and Lt. Governors, the BJP central government is seeking to destabilise non-BJP democratically elected state governments. This is happening with the democratically elected governments in Delhi and in Puducherry.

Mazdoor Kisan Sangharsh Rally on September 5

IT is to highlight the issues of crores of workers, peasants, agricultural workers, artisans and other toiling people, to emphatically voice their demands for better work, better working conditions, better lives and better future for their children, that CITU, AIKS and AIAWU have jointly called the ‘Mazdoor Kisan Sangharsh Rally’ on September 5, 2018 before the parliament.

EMS Smrithi 2018: Science, Technology and Marxism

EMS Smrithi 2018 this year was without its founder and driving spirit, Chandradutt; or Duttmash, as he was fondly called. He passed away on March 20 from the recurrence of cancer that he had fought for the last 22 years. Even though he was not present at the final event, his was the plan for this edition of the series. It was he who pushed for the focus to be on Marxism, Science and Technology, and guided us in selecting the speakers. For all of us, this year’s EMS Smrithi was our tribute to Duttmash.

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