People's Democracy

14-Day Pada Yatra Concludes

with Big Rally in Khammam

THE vast amounts of money being looted through corruption or being gifted away to corporates in the form of tax concessions could have been utilised for completing long-pending irrigation projects that are so much needed to usher in real development, said CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury while addressing a public meeting in Khammam on November 10, 2012.

The public meeting marked the culmination of the 14-day long maha rytu pada yatra undertaken by one thousand CPI(M) activists demanding the state government to complete the Dummagudem project that would bring Godavari river water to Khammam district by allotting Rs 10,000 crore. The foundation for this project was laid in 2005 but works are going on at snail’s pace citing lack of funds.

The pada yatra, which was led by CPI(M) district secretary P Sudarshan Rao, received enthusiastic response from the people of the district. It traversed over 300 km covering 18 mandals and explaining to the people enroute the demands of the yatra. The leaders exposed  the state government’s apathy to the needs of people. Yechury and CPI(M) central committee member Thammineni Veerabadhram and others received the yatra as it entered Khammam town. They symbolically danced with tribals on the occasion. Earlier, water brought from Godavari river was symbolically poured into Palair reservoir by the pada yatra leaders and CPI(M) leaders T Veerabadhram and Y Venkateshwara Rao.

Yechury in his speech pooh poohed the government’s excuse of lack of funds as a favourite lie of bourgeois governments. “There are tens of projects like Dummagudem that are pending across the country. The prime minister talks of fiscal deficit and says the government lacks funds for completing such projects. But the same prime minister does not hesitate a bit to hand over Rs 5.28 lakh crore to corporates as tax incentives. Or allows scams amounting to lakhs of crores of rupees. This government subsidises the rich and squeezes the poor”, he said.

Yechury felt the mega corruption scandals of 2G, 3G, CWG, oal scam etc are throwing the nation back in terms of development. The BJP is also involved neck deep in corruption with revelations about its national president itself. There is no difference between the two parties in terms of economic policies also. It is only the Left parties that have stood out clean in the midst of such gross corruption. Yechury said it is only Left parties that are relentlessly fighting on people’s issues and that have a clear cut alternative to the ruinous economic policies. It is clear about building a political alternative through common struggles on  people’s issues. Yechury complemented the CPI(M) Khanmmam district committee for undertaking this maha pada yatra that too in the face of cyclone Nilam that also affected the district during the yatra.

CPI(M) central committee member Thammineni Veerabadhram and district secretary P Sudarshan Rao were among those who addressed the meeting.

FOUNDATION STONE LAID

FOR MB RESEARCH CENTRE

Laying the foundation stone for the building of the Makineni Basavapunnaiah Research Centre in Vijayawada on November 10, 2012, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury expressed hope that the centre would help in spreading the Left ideology and be useful in formulating struggles based on concrete study of issues. CPI(M) Polit Bureau member and state secretary B V Raghavulu, central committee members Paturi Ramaiah and P Madhu were present on the occasion.

Addressing a hall meeting that was chaired by MB Research Centre trustee P Madhu, Yechury recalled the way Comrade MB guided and developed him as a communist leader during his early days at all India centre. He had the fortune of working with Comrade MB for 15 years and learnt many aspects of dealing with ideological issues on which MB had great hold. He encouraged giving responsibilities to younger leaders and at the same time guided them carefully.

Yechury said Marxism can thrive and be enriched only when there is concrete analysis of concrete conditions. He spoke about how the ongoing economic crisis plaguing capitalist countries has vindicated the Marxist understanding that crises are inherent in capitalist economies. But to build struggles against capitalist order, it is very essential to undertake a thorough study of the present conditions. Capitalism would not collapse on its own, it needs to be overthrown by collective effort of all the exploited sections of the society. He expressed the hope that MB Research Centre would play a significant role as a platform to undertake serious study of various developments across the world and help in formulating struggles.

B V Raghavulu in his speech said the MB Centre would be a platform for wide range of activities relating to literature, culture, arts. He announced that plans have been made to open the centre next year marking the beginning of birth centenary of Comrade MB.

(INN)