The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement on April 21, 2016.

IN a landmark judgement, the Uttarakhand High Court has set aside the President’s rule imposed on March 27, 2016 and directed the holding of a Floor test on April 29.

It is very significant that the Court underlined that Article 356 of the constitution must be used as the last resort. Further, it ruled that the imposition of President’s rule was contrary to the norms laid down by the Supreme Court.

BELEAGUERED chief minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee is threatening to take revenge against opposition “by every inch” after the assembly polls. This has become her “war cry” in this year’s election. While this has exposed the authoritarian character of the Mamata Banerjee’s regime, people’s mobilisation against this regime is growing every day. As CPI(M) state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra has said in his public rallies, “People are advancing in metres and kilometres while the chief minister is gauging inches. History has taken top gear in West Bengal.”

THE Handwara incident in the Kashmir valley, once again, highlights the political and administrative failure in tackling the vexed problems in the troubled state of Jammu & Kashmir. The alleged harassment of a school girl by an army jawan led to protests outside the army bunker in the town. This was responded to by the heavy hand of the security forces.

THE announcement on March 14 by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin that the bulk of the Russian forces deployed in Syria were being withdrawn caught Washington and its allies on the wrong foot. Their predictions that Russia would be mired in a long drawn out war were deflated. At the beginning of the military campaign in Syria last year, President Putin had made it clear that the mission in Syria was a time bound one with clear cut military goals.

DR Babasaheb Ambedkar was without doubt one of the most towering personalities of modern India. Drawing inspiration from his three gurus – Buddha, Kabir and Phule – Ambedkar attained iconic status as a champion of socio-economic justice and an inveterate opponent of the hateful varna and caste system that was an inseparable part of Hindu religion. As chairman of the drafting committee of India’s Constitution, he was the main architect of its democratic, secular and federal tenets and its provisions for affirmative action in favour of the socially oppressed.