THREE class organisations in Maharashtra – CITU, AIKS, AIAWU – came together to hold their first-ever statewide joint struggle convention at Parbhani in the drought-stricken backward region of Marathwada on October 31, 2015. The aim was to launch massive statewide struggles of the working people on their burning problems which are getting aggravated with the neo-liberal policies of the BJP-led central and state governments; and to defend the unity of the toiling sections against the onslaught of the reactionary and divisive forces of communalism and casteism.

MORE than 20,000 people from the tehsils of Dahanu, Talasari, Vikramgad, Palghar, Jawhar, Mokhada and Wada from Palghar district and Shahapur tehsil from Thane district marched under the banner of the CPI(M) and the AARM to the district collector’s office at Palghar on October 16, 2015 to castigate the BJP-led governments at the centre and in the state and with a 21-point charter of burning demands of various sections of the working people. Adivasis were an overwhelming section in the march, and nearly half of them were women.

THE BJP chief minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis is trying to show that he is more loyal than his king, Prime Minister Narendra Modi. His was the first BJP state regime to impose the beef ban and the third after Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh to pass legislation making reactionary changes in labour laws.Now the home ministry, which is under his direct charge, has released a most obnoxious circular on August 27, 2015, as regards Section 124A of the IPC (which deals with sedition).

The meeting of the CPI(M) Maharashtra state committee held on June 27-28, 2015, chalked out the programme of the Party’s August campaign highlighting agrarian distress and directed against the anti-people, pro-corporate, corrupt and communal policies of the Modi-led BJP regime and the BJP-SS regime in the state. It also planned for the success of the September 2 all India Strike. CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury and central secretariat member Nilotpal Basu attended the meeting. The five main decisions taken were as follows:

AS expected, the Narendra Modi-led BJP/NDA central government launched a propaganda blitzkrieg in both print and electronic media on the completion of its one year in office on May 26, 2015. Modi himself addressed a rally in Mathura. It was announced that BJP central ministers would address 200 rallies and 200 press conferences all over the country to propagate the ‘achievements’ of the Modi regime. But unlike the pure hype generated in the election campaign a year ago, the propaganda this time had lost much of its sheen.