1. People’s Rights Campaign (August 6-18)
The CC has called upon the entire Party to run a countrywide People’s Rights Campaign (Janadhikar Abhiyan) from August 6 (Hiroshima Day, which should be observed particularly to denounce US imperialism and India’s strategic partnership with the US) to August 18 to give a bold voice to the people’s growing resentment against the UPA government’s anti-people and pro-imperialist policies and their disastrous consequences. The campaign will highlight the following 10 points:
(i) Rolling back of prices of all essential commodities
(ii) Strengthening of Public Distribution System with universal coverage for the rural and urban poor
(iii) Waiving of debt burden on small farmers and the rural poor
(iv) Halt to displacement in the name of mega projects and ‘special economic zones’
(v) Strict implementation of NREGA and its immediate spread to the entire country
(vi) Exemplary punishment to all those who are guilty of corporate-military corruption and compromising national security
(vii) Withdrawal of all false cases on leaders of people’s struggles and attacks on democratic rights of the people
(viii) Halt to privatisation of public sector industries and privatisation and commercialisation of basic services like education and healthcare and public utilities like electricity, transport and irrigation
(ix) Halt to indiscriminate entry of MNCs into agriculture and retail trade
(x) Scrapping of Indo-US nuclear deal
The campaign should aim at reaching out to wider sections of the people in our areas of work with adequate emphasis on holding local programmes and ensuring active participation of the lower-level Party structures. The forms of campaigning may include padyatras, processions, street corner meetings, poster campaigns, effigy burning, torchlight procession etc.
2. Developments in Nepal:
The CC has hailed the big victories achieved so far by the mighty pro-democracy people’s movement in Nepal. The monarchy has been effectively relegated to the background. Neither its domestic supporters nor its international sponsors including India and the US are now in a position to talk about a return to the old days. The Nepali Maoists have taken a significant step to participate directly in the ongoing political developments in Nepal. It however remains to be seen how the Koirala-Prachanda accord is actually implemented and what kind of role is played by the Nepali army and the international powers. While welcoming the people’s victories and supporting the cause of a democratic republic in Nepal we revolutionary communists in India must remain particularly watchful about India’s role and oppose any Indo-American move to intervene against the popular democratic and republican agenda in Nepal.
3.All India Protest Day against Jharkhand Government’s Campaign of Political Vendetta against CPI(ML) Leadership:
An all-India protest day will be held on July 20 in all State and District Headquarters to mobilise public opinion against the Jharkhand government’s campaign of political vendetta against CPI(ML) and the growing state-led assault on the right to protest against injustice, oppression and mass displacement. While focussing on the Ranchi incident and the BJP government’s repressive policies in Jharkhand, we should also mobilise opinion against the state-sponsored ‘Salwa Judum’ campaign in Chhattishgarh and the mass evictions being contemplated and effected in the name of industrialisation and creation of special economic zones.
A mass campaign is already underway in several states, particularly in Jharkhand. Following a three-day mahadharna in Ranchi on 13-15 June, comrades in Jharkhand resorted to a two-hour road blockade on 26 June. In a virtual repeat of the Ranchi incident, police resorted to brutal lathi-charge on our comrades in Giridih district and then went on to book a case against Comrade Rajkumar Yadav, state committee member and popular leader of Giridih district, under section 307 of IPC.
To foil this sinister design of repression we need sustained and multifarious mass initiatives, making sure that we involve democratic and progressive forces and individuals as widely as possible. Legal initiatives are also being taken to defeat this BJP game plan. If necessary, the CC may call for bigger initiatives after July 20.
4. Central Cadre Convention
CC has decided to hold a Central Cadre Convention in West Bengal in the middle of September.
The cadre convention will focus on four key areas of Party-building and Party practice: (i) Party membership, (ii) Primary Party structures, (iii) Party literature and Party education, (iv) Party’s role in Panchayati raj institutions or other institutions of local self-government.