The View from the Left

From the front page In an editorial in the latest issue, the paper condemns the attack on Yusuf Tarigami, secretary of CPM8217;s Jammu and ...

From the front page

In an editorial in the latest issue, the paper condemns the attack on Yusuf Tarigami, secretary of CPM8217;s Jammu and Kashmir unit and the killing of state minister Ghulam Nabi Lone. The attack came the day after the killing of another state CPM leader Ghulam Nabi Ganaie. Importantly, the paper said terrorists were afraid that the chasm between the security forces and the people was narrowing. It said terrorists 8220;thrive on widening the chasm between the security forces and the people. The weakening of such an alienation is something that the terrorists fear.8221;

CPM General Secretary Prakash Karat writes a stinging piece on the 8220;Frenzied Reaction to Sept 29 Strike8221;, saying while it was expected the 8220;corporate-owned media8221; would oppose the strike arguing the economy suffered from such action, there was a new offensive in the demand that such strikes be stopped altogether. Two newspapers, The Hindustan Times and The Indian Express are picked for special mention. But, writes Karat, none of the big business media asked why 40 million people went on strike. According to him, 8220;The dominant media is bordering on advocating authoritarian measures to suppress strikes in the name of national interests while actually all they are doing is defending the interests of big capital.8221;

In the news

CPM politburo member S.Ramachandran Pillai was in Brazil for the 11th Congress of the Communist Party of Brazil from October 20-23 and carried 8220;fraternal greetings8221; from the party. The message included details of the Left8217;s growing strength. Pillai said the UPA 8220;is dependent on the support of the Left. The CPIM and the Left played a crucial role in putting this government in place8221;, adding while the CPM had no illusions about the character of the government, its main task was to keep communal forces in check. Incidentally, Pham The Duyet, president of the Central Committee of Vietnam Fatherland Front met Karat at the party headquarters on October 12, accompanied by the Vietnamese ambassador to India. Incidentally, a British parliamentary delegation met the CPM general secretary the previous day, but that finds no mention in the weekly.

Party8217;s stand

A CITU statement in the weekly says it opposes the government8217;s move to tax savings under all savings instruments at the withdrawal stage because it would affect those who have small savings. CITU says the high rate of household savings was one of the fundamental strengths of the Indian economy, but 8220;it is a tragedy that the government has not been able to convert these high savings into investments.8221; Politburo member Brinda Karat writes a two-part series on the Rural Employment Guarantee Act and focuses on the issues of implementation, accountability and people8217;s participation. On successful interventions by the Left, she writes that one of them pertained to making women beneficiaries in a third of all government schemes. A report on the sixth session of the CPM8217;s West Bengal Committee held on October 15, apart from focusing on development issues, stresses on the need for a concerted political campaign and mass resistance against 8220;divisiveness and separatism8221; in the troubled north Bengal districts of Cooch Behar, Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri. The state committee has meanwhile set out a long list of tasks for the Left Front government 8212; among them is complete rural electrification in two years.

On Iran

Former diplomat M.K. Bhadrakumar, writes if Iran feels betrayed by India8217;s vote against it at the IAEA, it has every reason to feel so. He refers to 1994 to say how Iran bent over backwards to stop a resolution on Kashmir backed by OIC countries from going through at the UNHRC. Had that happened, it could well have been raised in the UN Security Council, he says. Bhadrakumar is now on the Left8217;s 14-member committee that will lead the campaign against India8217;s Iran vote.

Compiled by Ananda Mazumdar