Top CPI(M) body to keep options open on poll alliances

The three-day meeting of the CPI(M) Central Committee decided to keep the option of electoral alliances open while bringing the focus back to “non-Parliamentary” forms of struggle against the Narendra Modi government.

The meeting approved the “outline” submitted by the party’s Politburo on the political resolution for the next three years, along with discussions raised on the “outline” by others in the Central Committee, including party General Secretary Sitaram Yechury.

Yechury told reporters after the meeting here on Monday that the Central Committee authorised the Politburo to prepare the draft political resolution for the 22nd Congress of the CPI(M) on the basis of the “outline” and the discussions. The Party Congress will take place at Hyderabad from April 18 to 22, 2018. A total of 765 elected delegates will participate in the meet, which is the largest decision-making platform of the CPI(M). Yechury said the draft will be circulated to all members of the CPI(M) so that they can discuss and suggest amendments to the document.

Yechury said the onslaught on the people has risen in the last three years. He said the CPI(M) will support the struggles by farmers, trade unions, students and youth against the Modi government. He said the policies of the Modi government have resulted in worsening health of the economy, as well as the increasing miseries of the people.

“The fiasco of demonetisation and the GST are coming home to roost. Growing distress suicides by farmers reflecting the deepening agrarian crisis, the virtual ruination of the MSME sector have resulted in large scale job loss. The drastic cuts in allocations to schemes like the MNREGA have further squeezed the job opportunities in the rural areas. The services sector is also showing a contraction and consequent job loss. The overall picture of the economy is gloomy. The Modi government seems to have no clue and is indulging in jugglery,” Yechury said.

He also demanded a Central legislation to ban “RSS-inspired” private armies who have been targeting Dalits and members of the minority community, indulging in loot, arson and killings.

The Central Committee also said that despite its high-decibel campaign during the 2014 elections to not tolerate corruption, there was not a single instance of the BJP government having acted in any of the corruption scandals that have come to the fore recently.

On reports of the amassing wealth by Jay Shah, son of BJP chief Amit Shah, the panel demanded that the Modi government should launch legal proceedings the case.