BETWEEN January 1 -15, CPI(M) units will organise solidarity actions with the adivasis in Assam who have been the targets of brutal attacks by Bodo extremist organisations. Over 70 adivasis have been killed and 1.15 lakh adivasis have been forced to flee their homes and are living in miserable conditions in camps. While organising such actions on different dates within this period, funds for relief can also be collected.

THE last two weeks have seen various business organisations, editorials in the corporate media and political commentators decrying the spate of communal activities and propaganda in the country. Under the Modi government, the RSS and its outfits are increasingly asserting the Hindutva agenda. The latest has been the campaign to “reconvert” those who have left the Hindu fold. According to the RSS chief, Mohan Bhagwat, this is not conversion but a ‘ghar wapasi’ and in his words, the return of `maal’ stolen by a thief.

“...We Communists are people of a special mould. We are made of a special stuff. We are those who form the army of the great proletarian strategist, the army of Comrade Lenin. There is nothing higher than the honour of belonging to this army. There is nothing higher than the title of member of the Party whose founder and leader was Comrade Lenin. It is not given to everyone to be a member of such a Party. It is not given to everyone to withstand the stresses and storms that accompany membership in such a Party.

THOUSANDS of road transport workers from all over India gathered at Jantar Mantar on December 18 and staged a dharna at the call of all the trade unions. The area resounded with the slogans – “withdraw the Road Transport and Safety Bill 2014”; “Today dharna and next, strike in first week of March 2015”.

THE recently concluded Kathmandu SAARC summit has not been a very good advertisement for regional unity or cohesion. The 18th SAARC summit was held in the backdrop of renewed tensions between the two most powerful members of the regional grouping, India and Pakistan. The coming to power of the BJP in India and that too with a massive majority has put India’s role in the region under renewed scrutiny. Only one important agreement, relating to energy connectivity was signed and that too at the eleventh hour.