IN his column ‘No Proof Required,’ Surjit Bhalla has been regularly deriding left and secular intellectuals who oppose the fascistic corporate Hindutva ideology represented by Narendra Modi and the BJP. Last week he once again defended the indefensible by calling upon the critics of Modi to ‘give evidence’ against the Gujarat model (The Indian Express, April 26, 2014). He says that the criticism of Modi is “just name calling” and based on no hard evidence.

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement on April 30, 2014.

THE third phase of polling held in West Bengal on April 30, 2014 was marred by widespread rigging, violence and capture of polling booths. Hundreds of polling booths were affected in the Bolpur, Birbhum, Bardhaman Purba, Bardhaman-Durgapur, Howrah and Uluberia Lok Sabha constituencies. Polling agents of the CPI(M) and the Left Front were driven out in a number of booths and blatant false voting has taken place in the presence of polling personnel.

A delegation comprising of CPI(M) Polit Bureau members Sitaram Yechury and S Ramachandran Pillai met the Election Commission of India and submitted the following memorandum on the widespread rigging in the third phase of elections in West Bengal on April 30, 2014.THERE has been large-scale rigging and violence in the elections to the 16th Lok Sabha held in West Bengal on April 30, 2014.  This has completely distorted the process of conducting free and fair polls.

The following is the statement issued by the CPI(M) AP Committee on April 24, 2012:

IT is unfortunate the High Court of Andhra Pradesh gave its judgement to quash the sentences granted to the culprits by the Special Court in the Chundur Dalit Massacre case. The Communist Party of India (Marxist), AP Committee demands the government to appeal the case in the Supreme Court.

WITH the demise of Comrade K L Bajaj on April 18, 2014, the Left and the working class movement in Maharashtra have lost one of their stalwarts. For the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Centre of Indian Trade Unions, the loss of Comrade K L Bajaj is irreparable. At the time of his death at the age of 79, Bajaj was a member of the CPI(M) Central Committee and the Maharashtra state secretariat, and was the vice president of the CITU at both the national and the state level. He was one of the convenors of the Trade Union Joint Action Committee (TUJAC) in Maharashtra.