Poll Reforms: Need of the Day

THE president of India has appointed Narendra Modi as the country’s 14th prime minister on the strength of his election as the leader of the BJP parliamentary group following the BJP’s electoral victory. The acceptance of the people’s verdict always comes with the expectations that the government that follows will pursue a set of policies and programmes that will provide the people with a better quality of life.

The Offensive against Transfers to the Poor

THE corporate magnates who have financed Narendra Modi’s election campaign (the money spent by him on media promotion alone is estimated to be Rs 5,000 crore) are now getting ready to claim their booty. This consists not only in the direct gains they demand, but also, additionally, in the rolling back of the few relief measures for the poor, such as the MGNREGS, which had been implemented especially during the UPA-I under Left pressure, and which cannot compensate in any case for the damage done to their living conditions by the current inflationary recession.

Comrade R Umanath

THE Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) expresses its deep grief at the passing away of Comrade R Umanath, veteran leader of the party, at Tiruchirapalli. He was aged 92 years.
R Umanath was a member of the Central Committee of the party from 1978 to 2012. He was elected a member of the Polit Bureau in 1991 and served in that capacity till 2008. He served as a member of the Tamilnadu state committee and secretariat of the party for several decades.

CPI(M) Submits Memo to EC

PREOCCUPATION with VIP constituencies should not be an excuse for the Election Commission to fail in its constitutional duty of ensuring a free and fair poll in the last phase of the polls in West Bengal. Addressing a press conference at the Party headquarters in New Delhi on May 11, 2014, after meeting the Chief Election Commissioner, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member, Sitaram Yechury said that the Commission is concentrating too much of its energy on one single constituency. He was alluding to Varanasi from where Narendra Modi is contesting.

BEFI Flays Bank Privatisation Move

AT a time when the whole country was awaiting the results of the Lok Sabha elections, a panel appointed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), headed by former Axis Bank chairman P J Nayak, came out with its report advocating privatisation of public sector banks (PSBs). The eight member committee constituted by the RBI on January 20, 2014, had had its first sitting on February 18 and submitted its report on May 12 --- that is, too promptly and before the three months time stipulated for it since the first sitting.

On Saradha Judgement

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) issued the following statement on May 9, 2014.
THE Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) welcomes the Supreme Court judgement which has handed over the Saradha chit fund case to the CBI. The Saradha scam had affected 25 lakh depositors in four states. But the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal has been doggedly opposing investigation by the CBI in the matter.

Left Protests Violence, Rigging in West Bengal

The Left parties – Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, All India Forward Bloc and Revolutionary Socialist Party – issued the following statement from New Delhi on May 12, 2014.
THE last phase of elections for 17 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal has been marked by widespread violence, capture of more than a thousand polling booths, polling agents of opposition parties being driven out and physical attacks on people going to vote in various places.

Charges against CPI(M) are Baseless

CPI secretary K Narayana had in a press conference on May 14 (Wednesday) charged that CPI(M) Telangana state secretary Thammineni Veerabhadram struck a deal with YSRCP to ensure that he (Narayana) is defeated in Khammam Lok Sabha seat. He said Thammineni similarly ensured the defeat of CPI leader Puvada Nageshwara Rao earlier also in the same seat.
He launched a diatribe against CPI(M) on its choices of supporting YSRCP, TRS, JSP in different regions.
Below is the text of CPI(M)Polit Bureau member B V Raghavulu's reaction to Narayana's charges:

Nationwide Protests to Restore Democracy in West Bengal

RESPONDING to the call given by Left parties for nationwide protest actions against the widespread violence, terror and rigging in the Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal and demanding repoll in all the affected booths, protest demonstrations and dharnas were held in various state capitals and district headquarters across the country on May 14, 2014.

DYFI and TYF protest against TMC Violence in Bengal

DYFI Tripura state committee and TYF central committee jointly organised massive protest against the brutal attack on Sayandip Mitra, president of DYFI West Bengal state committee and Tapas Sinha, former general secretary of DYFI central committee and CPI(M) candidate from Kanthi Lok Sabha constituency as part of the pre-poll violence of the TMC.

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