People's Democracy

HELD in the V P House lawns in New Delhi, February 19, the all-India convention of the National Platform of Mass Organisations (NPMO) was attended by more than 3,000 delegates. The latter came from major trade union organisations and independent federations of employees in the state and central governments, banks, insurance, railways and various other sectors, and from the organisations of peasants and agricultural workers, students, youth and women.

The NPMO comprises 56 organisations of workers and employees, peasants and agricultural workers, students, youth, women and professionals from various walks of life.

After its proceedings, the convention adopted a unanimous Declaration calling for a countrywide struggle against the Vajpayee government’s anti-national economic policies and communal designs. The struggle will include a massive strike action all over the country.

The convention’s presidium consisted of leaders of various trade unions and mass organisations like J Chittaranjan (AITUC), E Balanandan (CITU), A D Nagpal (HMS), N K Shukla (AIKS), Thangamony (AIYF), Pramila Pandhe (AIDWA), S Bardhan (BEFI), Bhangoo (AIREC), V A N Namboodiri (telecom workers), Mandal (UTUC-LS) and others.

At the very outset, the convention adopted a resolution condoling the death of a very large number of people in the Gujarat earthquake and also the death of workers in the Bagdighi mine disaster in Dhanbad owing to the management’s criminal neglect of safety provisions. The resolution asked the workers and democratic minded people to contribute what they can for the relief and rehabilitation of the quake victims. It also condemned the Gujarat government’s utter failure to organise and reach relief to the affected people even though aid and support from all over the country and also from abroad has been pouring in. Instead, the state government has been anxious to push through the Sangh Parivar’s design of saffronisation of even the relief and rescue operations work amid an immense human catastrophe. Through another resolution, the convention condemned the recent bombardment of Iraq by the USA and UK, and called upon the people to raise their voice against this international imperialist gangsterism.

The Declaration adopted by the convention expressed concern over the Vajpayee government’s surrender to the imperialist designs to subjugate the Indian economy and their hectic move to sell out the country’s interests on all fronts. This has caused havoc in all spheres of the social and economic life of the people, through abnormal price rise, unemployment, industrial sickness, closures and attacks on democratic rights. There has been a spate of suicides by peasants, by agricultural workers and even by workers of the sick public sector units who are not getting salary for months together. The recent removal of restrictions on imports of agricultural and other produce has caused havoc to our rural economy and to the peasants and agricultural workers who are expressing their resentment all over the country in a big way.

The convention condemned the central government’s naïve ploy to exploit the people’s emotions regarding the miseries of the quake victims and impose more burdens on the people in the forthcoming budget while planning to extend further concessions to the Indian rich and the MNCs. It also condemned the divisive communal game of the BJP-led government, its bid to saffronise the administration and education, the ever increasing atrocities on the minorities, and the design to disrupt the people’s unity and the country’s integrity. The meet called for a countrywide militant struggle to uproot this anti-national and pro-imperialist disastrous regime to save the people and save the country.

The convention urged the NPMO constituents and other mass organisations to hold massive protest demonstrations all over the country, in all industrial centres and at state and district headquarters on March 2, against the forthcoming anti-people budget, the grievous indications of which are already pouring in. The convention also asked them to ensure for the proposed struggle broadest mobilisation of people from all walks of life and hold state and district level conventions of mass organisations all over the country. All this campaign must culminate in a massive countrywide strike action; the convention gave a call to carry on intensive preparations for the same.

Those who addressed the convention included A B Bardhan (AITUC), M K Pandhe (CITU), Swapan Mukherjee (AICCTU), Ashok Ghose (UTUC), Satyaban Mukherjee (UTUC-LS), Shyamacharan Gaur (UTUC), Sukomal Sen (AISGEF), T I Madhavan (AIDEF), Tarakeshwar Chakraborty (AIBEA), Brinda Karat (AIDWA), Kumudini Pati (AIPWA), Amarjit Kour (NFIW), K K N Kutty (Central Government Employees Confedertion), Suneet Chopra (AIAWU), D P Dubey (FMRAI), Shamik Lahiri (SFI), Anil Bhatnagar (NZIEA) and others.