CENTRAL COMMITTEE COMMUNIQUE

Defeat Communalism, Ensure Secular Govt, Strengthen Left

Below we reproduce the communique issued by the CPI(M) Central Committee after its meeting at Hyderabad on January 29 to 31, 2004.

THE Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) met at Hyderabad between January 29 and 31, 2004.

The meeting took stock of the political situation consequent to the emergent steps taken by the BJP led government to advance the Lok Sabha elections. The Central Committee discussed and adopted the electoral-tactical line to be adopted by the party for the forthcoming elections.

The Context In

Which Elections

Are Being Held

The BJP has been in office at the centre for a continuous stretch of six years from 1998. Since the last elections held in 1999, the policies of the Vajpayee government in the economic, political, social and foreign policy spheres illustrate how it will be harmful if their rule continues.

Under the BJP rule, the RSS has been entrenching itself in the state apparatus and, systematically, efforts have been made to communalise our society. The NDA coalition government is only a cover for the communal forces to work towards consolidating their hold on state power.

The Vajpayee government has implemented pro-rich and pro-imperialist economic policies which have harmed economic sovereignty and imposed heavy burdens on the ordinary people. Here is a government which betrayed the popular mandate by privatising public sector assets and handing them over to both foreign and Indian monopolies. No section of Indian society has been spared. Jobless workers in the streets, peasants committing suicides, youth and women without jobs, ordinary people deprived of cheap food under the public distribution system and starvation and misery for the tribal and Dalit sections --- this has been the net result of the economic policies.

The BJP government has no respect for federalism and, given a chance, will impose an authoritarian regime. It has been whittling away the rights of the states to determine economic policies which favour their people. Anti-democratic laws like POTA are being used to suppress dissent.

The BJP rule is symbolised by the horror of the carnage in Gujarat and the constant intimidation of the minorities. What is happening in Jhabua to the Christian minorities after the ushering in of BJP rule in Madhya Pradesh is a stark reminder that the BJP is inimical to national unity and India’s pluralistic character.

There has been no other government in India which has advocated chaining this great country to the global strategy of US imperialism. The foreign policy of India is no more independent and non-aligned.

Main Tasks

In The Elections

Defeating the BJP and its allies is the main task of the CPI(M) and the Left and democratic forces in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections and the assembly elections which will be held in some of the states. Corresponding to this, the basic aim of the CPI(M) will be to see that a secular government is formed after the 14th Lok Sabha elections. Defeating the BJP is essential for the defence of secularism and federalism, for ensuring that India progresses on the basis of democracy, economic sovereignty and social justice.

Tactics For

The Elections

The CPI(M) considers the central task to be to mobilise the people to defeat the BJP and its allies. It will work for an electoral verdict which can put in place a secular government at the centre.

The CPI(M) will conduct an independent campaign all over the country to mobilise the people for this goal. It will also conduct a joint campaign with its other Left, democratic and secular allies for this purpose.

The CPI(M) will rally all the secular and democratic forces so that the widest forces can be mobilised to defeat the BJP alliance in the different states and nationally. While doing so, the CPI(M) will not have any alliance or front with the Congress. In the independent campaign of the CPI(M), the party will oppose the harmful economic policies of the Congress.

All over the country, the CPI(M) will adopt tactics which would help to isolate the BJP and its allies. The party will strive to minimise the division of the anti-BJP votes to the maximum extent possible. In states where the Left is not a major force and the main polarisation is between the BJP and the Congress, the party will fight a limited number of seats and conduct a general campaign calling for the defeat of the BJP alliance.

The Central Committee decided to contest around seventy seats in the elections to the Lok Sabha. The party will aim to increase the strength of the Left in parliament.

Appeal To

The People

The 14th Lok Sabha election is going to be a crucial battle. The BJP-RSS combine’s plans to advance the Hindutva agenda must be checked. The people will have to decide how to strengthen the forces of democracy and secularism. This requires the decisive defeat of the BJP-NDA alliance which is just a cover for the communal agenda. The people will have to be freed from the clutches of a regime which imposes harmful economic policies affecting their livelihood.

The Central Committee calls upon the people of this country to exercise their choice in a manner which ensures the emergence of a secular government and the strengthening of the Left of which the CPI(M) is an important component.

The Central Committee calls upon all its party units to prepare for this important electoral battle by conducting a vigorous and extensive political campaign among all sections of the people and mobilise them to ensure the victory of the secular and democratic forces.