People's Democracy

TAMILNADU

CPI(M) Calls for Defeat to DMK-Congress Combine

S P Rajendran

THE Tamilnadu state committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has decided to fight the coming assembly elections in the state in an electoral understanding with the AIADMK and the Left and democratic parties. It also called upon the people of Tamilnadu to defeat the anti- people combine of the ruling DMK and Congress in the coming elections.

The state committee meeting, held at Chennai on January 24 and 25, was attended by the party general secretary Prakash Karat and Polit Bureau member K Varadharajan. Central Committee members N Varadharajan and U Vasuki also attended. State secretariat member P Shanmugam presided over the meeting that passed a resolution lashing out at the DMK government for aggressively implementing the neo-liberal policies of the central government and unleashing a cruel attack on the livelihood of all sections of the people.

The DMK, which is a part and parcel of the Congress led central government is also responsible for continuous rises in the prices of petrol, fertilisers, life saving drugs, construction materials as well as for the uncontrolled rise in the prices of all essential goods including food grains and vegetables. There is a relentless attack on the life of the people, the resolution said.

Instead of implementing the measures to check the price rise, the UPA government is trying to open the retail market for FDI and has permitted the speculative futures trading to continue, thus serving the interests of domestic and multinational capital, the resolution charged.

The state committee alleged that higher-ups in both the central and state governments are connected to the rotten 2G scam. The people of the country have witnessed a series of worst corruptions like CWG scam and Adarsh housing scam.

The CPI(M) resolution condemned the DMK government in Tamilnadu for unleashing barbaric attacks on the working class movement and denying trade union rights to workers. On the other hand, the government’s policies are serving the domestic and multinational corporate houses. This has led the closure of lakhs of small and mini industries in the state. The government of Tamilnadu has signed MoUs with multinationals, but the people of the state and the assembly too were kept in dark about them.

More than 62 lakhs of youth are registered in the employment exchanges across the state and have been waiting for years to get a job opportunity. But lakhs of jobs in government departments are lying vacant. The worsening unemployment situation has become a threatening socio-economic problem in the state, the resolution observed.

The resolution criticised the agrarian policies of the DMK government that have destroyed the rural economy in Tamilnadu. In the last assembly elections, the DMK promised to give two acres of free land as well as house pattas to each and every landless farmer. This promise remains unfulfilled even after five years of its rule. However, thousands of acres of fertile land were given to domestic and multinational corporations.

Price rise of agricultural inputs, unremunerative prices for agro products and non-implementation of the Forest Rights Act etc have resulted in a fall in agricultural production. This has led to an escalation in migration of lakhs of farmers and agricultural workers, who lost their livelihood, to towns and cities in order to find a job. It is very shocking that farmers are committing suicide in Tamilnadu too.

All values of education were demolished in the DMK rule, the resolution charged. Private and self-finance educational institutions are indulging in dacoit like activities with the support of the government. The common school education system was not implemented properly.

Cruel forms of untouchability against dalits and violence against women are going on unchecked across the state.

Crime rate soared during the DMK rule. Anti-socials engaged in illicit liquor trade, illegal moneylending, illegal contracts, uncontrolled real estate business, etc are conducting a parallel administration across the state. If anyone crosses their way, they murder him cruelly. Barbaric murders and robberies are the order of the day.

Custodial deaths in police stations, police attacks on people’s struggles and human rights violations have increased.

Illegal sand mining, land scams and land grabbing are increasing day by day. Bribing and corruption have hollowed all the departments. Ministers in the Karunanidhi cabinet and ruling party leaders at all levels have accumulated properties statewide.

Chief minister Karunanidhi’s family is aggressively capturing space in the media, films and other arenas.

On the other hand, BJP is trying to forge its communal activities in the state.

It is in such a situation that the people of Tamilnadu are going to face assembly elections.

The CPI(M) is of the view that the ruling DMK-Congress alliance must be decisively defeated; only then can the interests of the state’s people be protected.

The state committee meeting of the CPI(M) has constituted a three-member committee, headed by its state secretary G Ramakrishnan, for holding seat-sharing talks with the AIADMK for the polls. Central Committee member T K Rangarajan and state secretariat member K Balakrishnan are the other members.

After the meeting, Prakash Karat called on AIADMK general secretary Ms Jayalalithaa at her residence in Chennai. He formally informed her about the CPI(M) state committee’s decision and invited her to participate in the dharna at Delhi that was to be held on February 9.