Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Education for whom?
A front page editorial articulates the CPIM8217;s views on control over private educational institutions and the need for a Central legislation that would enable them to reserve seats for SCs, STs and OBCs, and establish guidelines for the fee structure in those institutions. The Constitution amendment introduced in the winter session of Parliament does provide for the introduction of a new clause to make this possible, but it is here that differences with the BJP crop up. The editorial accuses the BJP of playing politics since it wanted minority educational institutions as provided in Article 30 to be brought under the purview of the amendment and reservation for OBCs be provided under it. However, given the ground realities in the CPIM stronghold of Kerala, the party8217;s views on the issue too fall in a grey area. This comes through in the editorial which says that while it is necessary to protect the rights of the minorities, 8220;it is also necessary that this provision in Article 30 is not misused for further commercialisation of education garnering undue profits by denying reservations8221;.
Tale of two states
Maharashtra: As part of its growth plans, the CPIM appears to fancy its prospects for expansion in Maharashtra following what it believes are signs of weakening of the BJP-Shiv Sena combine on the one hand and the Congress-NCP on the other. State party secretary Ashok Dhawale says in an article that the weakening of the Sena can be seen in the recent victories of Priya Dutt and former Sena man Narayan Rane and in Raj Thackeray8217;s decision to form a new party. The state government, he writes, has been put on the defensive by farmers8217; suicides in Vidarbha and elsewhere. In contrast is the 8220;rousing response8221; to the CPIM8217;s 8220;independent struggle8221; for food, land and employment and its recent mass rallies, which the party can build on.
Kerala: The Left hopes to return to power in this Left-stronghold and General Secretary Prakash Karat has often said so, suggesting that past gains must be protected as the Left aims to return to power in the state. At the recent conference on Kerala Studies, a report on which was carried in People8217;s Democracy, Karat blamed the UDF government for doing away with some of the gains made by the Left. 8220;The Left is hopefully poised to undertake another stint in government in Kerala,8221; Karat said, suggesting it must build on its earlier successes while making a bid for power.
40 years on, the same words
A report in the December 26 issue of People8217;s Democracy on an upcoming Tricontinental Conference in Havana has the Left airing the same fears regarding the then Indian government8217;s foreign policy direction as it does now about the UPA government. 8220;Here is a golden opportunity for the Indian government to retrieve India8217;s declining prestige among the nations and peoples fighting against imperialism, colonialism and neo-colonialism. Will they express unqualified support for the struggles of the peoples of the three continents against imperialism, colonialism and neo-colonialism led by the US imperialists or will their voice be muted at the prospect of an unqualified condemnation of the role of US imperialism in Vietnam, the Congo and Dominican Republic?8221;
