THE Delhi state committee of the Dalit Shoshan Mukti Manch (DSMM), had organised a stall near RBI on Parliament Street in Delhi on April 14, to mark the 127th birth anniversary of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar. CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat inaugurated the stall by garlanding Ambedkar’s photograph. She also addressed the gathering and said that Baba Saheb gave his entire life to the struggle against the varna system and caste system prevalent in the Indian society. Dr Ambedkar’s goal in life was to create an equal society free of injustice and oppression.

TO facilitate the building up of a united resistance by all dalit organisations against the onslaught on dalits by the present Modi-led BJP government, a meeting was held in Delhi on April 12 with the representatives of different dalit organisations.  The meeting was presided over by Prakash Ambedkar.  On behalf of DSMM, V Srinivasa Rao and Nathu Prasad, Thirunavukkarasu from the All India Agricultural Workers Union, V S Nirmal from All India Khet Mazdoor Union, Rameshnathan and Kamal Nath from NCDHR, Ananda Rao from AIDRF, Ashok Bharati from NACDOR attended the meeting. The meeting decided

INDIAN people are today facing unprecedented challenges.  The only way in which these challenges can be met and defeated is through a mighty people’s movement on the basis of an alternative policy framework that reverses the current disastrous policy direction in our country by ousting the present RSS/BJP government.  In advancing such people’s struggles, this 22nd Congress of the CPI(M) will be a milestone in our Party’s history.

AS a follow up of the historic kisan long march from Nashik to Mumbai from March 6-12, 2018, the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) called for a kisan vijay (victory) march in Kalwan, about 70 km north of Nashik, close to the border with Gujarat, on April 2. I travelled to Kalwan to be part of the march.Kalwan was awash with red. The local police estimated, I learnt, that between 25,000 to 30,000 farmers attended. The Kisan Sabha had erected a large pandal with a stage on one side. This pandal couldn’t have accommodated everybody, and so they spilled out on all sides.

WEST Bengal experienced an unprecedented violence against women by Trinamul Congress administration on the eve of panchyat polls in the state. Women belonging to Left parties were physically assaulted when they were going to file the nominations; they were threatened in their homes; wives and daughters of Left leaders were not spared, even if they were not filing nominations. Trinamul Congress regime in the state in alliance with the State Election Commission is not only authoritarian but also flouting all norms of minimal consideration of human rights.