People's Democracy

SPEAKERS at a massive public meeting held on January 10, on the occasion of the 20th AP state conference of CPI(M) at the Nanduri Prasada Rao Pranganam in Ananthapur town, called upon the people to teach a fitting lesson to the BJP which is following anti-people and pro-imperialist policies and its opportunist ally the Telugu Desam Party. Earlier a colourful rally of thousands of people holding red flags and banners, raising slogans, and teams of artists exhibiting various traditional forms of arts was taken out from Kothavuru junior college compound. Leaders and delegates of the conference participated in the massive rally. It took nearly two hours for the rally to reach the venue of public meeting. The rally reflected the militant determination to take the movement forward and was enthusiastically witnessed by the people of the town.

CPI(M) general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet, addressing the public meeting, came down heavily on the anti-people and pro-imperialist policies of the BJP-led NDA government and charged it with mortgaging our country's honour and sovereignty. He asked the people to foil the conspiracies of the BJP endangering our secular setup.

Hankering for the support of the US, the BJP-led government is watering down our foreign policy and ignoring the non-aligned movement built by our country. The people had seen plethora of corruption scandals that came up during the NDA regime. The BJP-led government has intensified the implementation of the disastrous liberalisation policies which were started by the Congress government. Selling away everything is the policy of the government and one need not wonder if it sells away its ministries as well, Surjeet commented. By saffronising education and whipping up animosity and conflicts between the majority and minority communities , the BJP is endangering federalism and secularism, he said.

Surjeet felt the forthcoming elections to the Uttar Pradesh assembly would be decisive in deciding the political future of the country and said that efforts are being made to defeat the BJP in that state.

CPI(M) Polit Bureau member, Sitaram Yechury, ridiculed chief minister Chandrababu Naidu for acting like a joker in a pack of cards and recalled how easily he shifted from the erstwhile United Front government to the NDA. He made it clear that there is no room for such opportunists and parties in the third alternative. Sitaram felt that if the communal BJP and the Congress are defeated in the coming elections to the four states, the NDA government cannot survive.

Tripura chief minister and CPI(M) Polit Bureau member, Manik Sarkar in his speech said terrorism has intensified in the North-East because of the policies of the central government and accused the prime minister Vajpayee of not treating it as a national problem inspite of repeated requests by the chief ministers of the concerned states. How can the BJP, which announced that it won't hesitate to join hands with the Congress and even terrorists against the Left Front government in Tripura, fight against terrorism at the national level, Sarkar questioned pointedly.

Making it clear that terrorism cannot be suppressed by the use of armed forces and police alone, he said isolating the terrorists and disruptive forces from the people by taking up developmental programmes in the backward areas is the only way.

CPI(M) state secretary, B V Raghavulu in his speech said during the period when chief minister Chandrababu Naidu was claiming to have worked for 18 hours a day, the debt burden of the government increased to Rs 35,000 crores and debt servicing to Rs 5000 crores. He remarked in a sarcastic manner that it would be better if the CM sleeps for 24 hours a day rather than work so hard. Had the loan amount been spent for the pending irrigation and drinking water projects, they would have been completed by now, he said.

Raghavulu lashed out at the government for foisting cases against those who demanded distribution of foodgrains rotting in the godowns to the poor and said the same rice is being eaten away now by the TDP bandicoots under the food for work programme. The chief minister, who is saying that rules and regulations would not permit for purchasing the groundnut from the farmers in Anantapur district, is doling out concessions to the tune of hundreds of crores of rupees to India Cements and other companies, criticised Raghavulu. Questioning the proposed move of the government to hike the power tariff again, he warned of launching another massive movement against it.

Mallu Swarajyam, vice president of All India Democratic Women's Association, asked what would be the fate of the country when the prevailing situation was forcing the farmers to commit suicide. She asked the farmers not to commit suicide and said those who were responsible for the plight of the farmers should commit suicide when confronted by the latter.

Obula Konda Reddy, secretary of the Ananthapur district committee of the CPI(M), who presided over the meeting, criticised the government for its negligent approach towards the drought-affected areas in the state.

Y Visweswar Reddy, secretariat member of the district committee of the party, also addressed the meeting. Members of the central committee of the CPI(M) Koratala Satyanarayana, Paturu Ramayya, M V Narasimha Reddy and T Veerabhadram and the reception committee chairman S Narayana were present on the dias.