Opinion Bengal setback
In the wake of the civic poll setback in West Bengal,the CPI has targetted Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in a veiled manner....
In the wake of the civic poll setback in West Bengal,the CPI has targetted Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in a veiled manner. In a front page article in the latest issue of its mouthpiece New Age,the party has expressed views which are seen as an explicit disapproval of the chief ministers line of thought. The article,which calls for introspection into the civic election results,points out that in a bourgeois federal set up,the working class and other working people should never be restrained from class struggles in the states where Communists wield the power. The view is significant as the chief minister had in the past spoken against the bandh culture.
Class interests and class struggles should always be above short-term gains in terms of sustaining the power in the limited manner, the article adds. It also talks about the erosion in the Lefts traditional support base among minorities and the urban poor. The Communists have not only to champion the genuine demands of the minorities but should also take concrete measures to remove their grievances, it says.
In conclusion,the article argues that these and issues like mis-governance and corruption in the administration should form the basis for introspection by the constituents of the Left front individually and collectively.
Airline strikes
An article by CITU leader Dipankar Mukherjee in CPMs weekly organ Peoples Democracy quotes a report of the Committee of Public Undertakings (COPU) to argue that the real culprits responsible for the present status of affairs of Air India have not been made accountable only to help private corporates to grab the civil aviation sector,including Air India. Referring to the report which had said that the multiplication of losses suggested that something is radically wrong either with the projections of the benefits of the Air India-Indian Airlines merger or with the implementation of the merger,he asks who is accountable for the increasing losses after 2007-2008 or wrong projection or implementation? Has Jadhav,the present chief executive of Air India,no responsibility or accountability to share?. He adds: Who was responsible for the abrupt haste in changing of name to Indian and in going ahead with merger of Indian Airlines and Air India? Praful Patel still brags on the TV channels that these were his wise decisions which has been termed as whimsical by COPU.
Will the PM or FM have the courage to sack or suspend this minister or bureaucrats guilty of taking a decision leading to the huge intangible and tangible loss to Air India? If the employees can be sacked without showing any reason for the so called Rs 12.5 crore loss due to protest action,what action has been taken against these guilty men,responsible for loss of thousands of crores of rupees due to merger and post-merger failings?
Referring to COPUs observation that the position of CMD,designated as the Merger Champion,was turned into a musical chair of sorts,he also seeks to know who is responsible for these musical-chair games leading to the present incumbent whose only contribution so far has been to disturb the industrial peace in Air India to hasten either a lock out or privatisation.
Flotilla raid
Dwelling on Israels attack on the Gaza-bound aid flotilla,the lead editorial in New Age trains its guns on the Manmohan Singh government. It says: Though the UPA II has issued a mild statement of condemnation,it has seen to it that it does not offend either Washington or Tel Aviv. It levels the usual allegations against the prime minister for making New Delhi a subsidiary partner of the US. Under Manmohan Singh,India has not only become a satellite of the US but also a full-fledged partner of Israel on many counts including our national security.
The annual trade between India and Israel of just defence equipment,it points out,has gone up to over 8 billion dollars. It talks about the need to stand up against the government for its gradual surrender to US imperialists and its henchmen,the Zionist state of Israel.
Compiled by Manoj C.G.
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