Protest Against the Massive Rigging of the Kolkata Municipal Elections
The elections to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation being held on April 18 witnessed yet another round of massive rigging organised by the ruling party, the Trinamool Congress, by mobilising goondas from different parts of West Bengal. These hooligans ruled and controlled the entire election process. The State administration and police not only did not take any steps to prevent the rigging by these goonda elements, but also actively connived with and participated in the campaign to make a mockery of the election.
The West Bengal State Election Commission, with all the machinery at its command, has remained a silent spectator to the chaos being spread by the ruling party. It has even expressed its helplessness in public.
The total number of wards going to the polls on April 18 is 144. By noon on April 18, most of booths in 30 wards, most of them being wards in which the Trinamool Congress trailed the CPI(M) in the previous Lok Sabha election, had been captured. The campaign to capture booths is now spreading to other wards. The voters are threatened not to go to the polling station and are being prevented from doing so. They are being physically attacked. Women have been threatened with rape. The polling agents of the opposition parties have been thrown out of polling booths. Goondas have been pushing the buttons on the electronic voting machines in favour of the candidates of the ruling party. Our reports tell us that till now about 75 comrades have been beaten. More than 100 have been physically assaulted. Twelve media persons have been threatened and attacked. There has been an instance of firing at Kyd Street, and bombings have taken place in different places. Our Party comrades are resisting hooliganism. Many Party supporters and members of the public have been injured, and some have been hospitalised.
The attacks began three to four days ago. On April 17, Comrade Kanti Ganguly, member of the West Bengal State Committee of the Party, his son, and two students of the “Pratibandhi Village,” an establishment for the all-round development of the disabled, were beaten by goondas in the office building of the establishment and in view of the police.
The rigging exposes the increasing alienation of the ruling party from the masses and the people and their fear of facing the democratic process. The TMC’s vote share came down from 58 per cent in 2011 to 36 per cent in 2014. It is well known that the ruling party advanced the date of the election to coincide with this Party Congress. By contrast, elections to the 91 municipalities going to vote next week were due to be held in 2014.
The 21st Congress of the CPI(M) condemns the Government of West Bengal, the ruling party and the state machinery for its all-out attack on the democratic rights of the people of Kolkata.
The Congress congratulates the people of Kolkata, who continue to brave these attacks. It calls upon the people who will vote in 91 municipalities on April 25th to boldly exercise their franchise and prepare to resist any onslaught on their democratic rights.
The 21st Congress once again expresses its solidarity with the people of West Bengal in the intensified battle in defence of democratic rights that is looming ahead. It calls upon all democratic people in India to raise their protest against these severe assaults on democratic rights and to stand with the battle for democracy in West Bengal.
Keep the Promises Made to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana
The 21st Congress of CPI (M) demands that the Central Government fulfil the commitments made to ensure the special category status of Andhra Pradesh, and deliver the special packages promised to the two States of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
During the discussion on the Andhra Pradesh State Reorganization Bill, the UPA Government – and the former Prime Minister himself -- promised to provide the special packages to the two States. BJP leaders who were then in the Opposition promised an even better package if they were voted to power. The BJP reiterated its promises after it formed the Government. Andhra Pradesh was promised funds for the development of backward regions such as North Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema, for meeting the revenue deficit in the budget, for special category status for industrial areas, for the construction of new educational and health institutions, for the construction of a new capital, for a new railway zone, and for a steel plant for Rayalaseema, etc. Telangana was promised 4000 MW of power, a steel plant in Khammam, and institutions of higher education, etc.
Important multi-purpose projects in North Andhra and Rayalaseema and the Pranahita-Chevella project in Telangana should be taken up on a priority basis as national projects and completed at the earliest.
One year after the formation of these two States, the promised special packages have not been delivered. On the contrary, BJP ministers have been making contradictory statements regarding these commitments, making it clear that the promised packages were only rhetoric, promises made to secure votes and not a serious commitment to the development of backward regions. It should be remembered here that one of the reasons for the demand for a separate State was the backwardness of specific regions covered by the erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh. Hence the issue of the backwardness of North Andhra, Rayalaseema, and the districts of Telangana should be addressed seriously.
The state governments in Andhra Pradesh led by the TDP and in Telangana led by the TRS are not putting pressure on the Government of India to implement these packages, even though the TDP is a participant in the Central Government.
The 21st Congress of the CPI (M) demands that the commitments made for special packages to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana be fufilled without any further delay.
Against the Present Labour Reforms
The 21st Congress of CPI (M) strongly opposes the anti-worker policies being taken by the Modi Government in the name of labour law “reforms.” The labour law amendments that have been passed and those that are in the process of being brought on to the statute book are against the interests of the working people in the country. These amendments are meant to push large sections of workers out of the purview of labour legislation and to provide legitimacy to employers who are already flouting labour laws.
The Modi Government has promoted the retrograde labour law reforms of the Rajasthan Government as a model, directing other State Governments to make similar amendments. Major labour laws, including the Factories Act, Industrial Disputes Act, and Contract Labour Act, have been drastically amended in Rajasthan in order severely to curtail workers’ rights and protection to workers. Several State governments, including those of Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh, have already amended these labour laws, and others, including Maharashtra, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh where there is a Congress government, have declared their intention to do so. These amendments are intended to allow the employers the right to hire and fire, and to exclude more than 70 per cent of the workers and enterprises now covered by labour laws from their coverage. The proposed Small Industries Bill, for instance, seeks to remove establishments employing less than 40 workers from the ambit of 14 important labour laws, including the Equal Remuneration Act and Maternity Benefit Act.
In the name of doing away with “Inspection Raj,” the Government is unleashing a “Jungle Raj” of predatory employers on the working people.
Important recommendations of tripartite bodies such as the Indian Labour Conference that benefit workers, for example, those that are concerned with minimum wages, contract labour, scheme workers, and so on, are being ignored by the Government. At the same time, measures demanded by employers are implemented unilaterally. Social security schemes such as the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), Employees Pension Scheme (EPS), and Employees State Insurance (ESI) will be dismantled if the proposed amendments to the EPF and ESI Acts are carried out. EPF money is being diverted to share markets and other channels. The minimum pension of Rs 1000 has also been disallowed.
These labour law amendments are being carried out under the pretext that they will generte employment through the “Make in India” campaign by improving the “ease of doing business.” The thrust of these campaigns is to present India as the “cheapest labour-cost destination.”
These policies are being introduced in a society in which around 93 per cent of the workforce is in the unorganised sector, that is, without any labour law protection, and in which existing labour laws are more often flouted than implemented in most enterprises to which they are applicable. The Government of India has not ratified the ILO conventions No 87 and No 98 on the rights of workers to organise and to collective bargaining. There is no law for the mandatory recognition of trade unions. India does not have a scientific minimum wage policy.
Growing Resistance by Workers
The 21st Congress of the CPI (M) congratulates the joint trade union movement for unitedly resisting these labour law amendments and fighting against the anti-worker and anti-people policies of successive governments at the Centre. It extends its whole-hearted support to their struggles to protect the livelihoods and working and living conditions of the workers.
The 21st Congress of the CPI(M) resolves to mobilise the working people and democratic sections in the country to fight the offensive against workers and calls upon them to support the struggles of the trade unions and workers against the anti-worker policies of the Government.
