PROFESSOR M M Kalburgi, a renowned Kannada scholar and writer, was shot dead at his residence in Dharwad of Karnataka in the morning of August 30, sending shock waves across the state as well as the country. This is the first case of a writer/scholar being killed in Karnataka, and in all likelihood due to the fear of “adverse impact” of his scholarship on communal discourse in the state.

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement on September 2, 2015.

THE Polit Bureau congratulates the working class of India for the magnificent strike they organised today (September 2, 2015). The CPI(M) had extended full support to the strike and the joint demand charter of the ten central trade unions and national and state federations.

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement on August 27, 2015THE Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly condemns the Mamta Banerjee government, for the unprovoked, brutal police lathicharges, tear gassing and use of water cannons against the massive demonstration of kisans led by the Left Kisan organisations supported by 17 Left parties and all Left  mass organisations in Kolkata today. Around 200 demonstrators, including women, have been injured and many had to be hospitalised.

IN a letter written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 17, Brinda Karat, Polit Bureau member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) who had visited the dharna of defence service pensioners at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi on the same day, said that it is sad that defence personnel who have served the nation were being forced to sit on an indefinite hunger strike. It is a shame on the country that such a situation has developed which makes a mockery of the concept of Jai Jawan.

Sitaram Yechury, CPI(M) general secretary and Sudhakar Reddy, CPI general secretary, have issued the following statement on August 18.THE BJP and the prime minister have threatened to go to all the Left constituencies protesting against the Left parties role in the so-called “disruption” of the parliament, particularly the Rajya Sabha. Official statistics report that the Rajya Sabha worked for a barely nine percent of the allotted time. The BJP displays selective amnesia by forgetting that the Rajya Sabha functioned for just two percent of the time in the 2010 winter session.