ML-Class Struggle: March 2014

CALL TO THE PEOPLE BY CPI (ML)

Reject and Defeat the NDA and the UPA!

Expose the Sham of the Third Front!

Support the CPI(ML), other Communist Revolutionaries and Patriotic Democratic Forces.

Press NOTA Button in Constituencies where NO Such Candidate is Contesting.

The General Election to the Sixteenth Loksabha is being fought in a very grave and complex situation. The UPA led by the Congress in its ten years of rule has taken the country to a critical position where unbridled inflation, sky-rocketing prices, massive unemployment has turned the lives of the people miserable. They have carried out policies of globalization in the interests of imperialist powers with as much enthusiasm as possible. As a result privatization of not only enterprises but also of education and health has become order of the day. Disinvestment of public sector enterprises is going the full stream. The new economic policy has brought disasters in every aspect of the economy. It has increased the gap between the rich and the poor, even great inequality among st working people - highly paid professionals and ordinary workers. In all industries and enterprises - both public and private – employment is being reduced day by day and carrying on work by contract and/or casual workers in rampant. In agriculture production has not only gone down, but peasants are forced to such dire condition, that suicides are common occurrences. Workers are leading lives of hunger and squalor. Instead of smashing the root cause of them the UPA at the behest of WTO-WORLD BANK -IMF combine has brought the so called Food Security Bill and MGNREGA as if the people are destined to live on the table scaps thrown to them. Unprecedented scams of lakhs of crores of rupees has become trade marks of UPA. Their policy of development through foreign capital open up our economy to foreign capitalists and financial institutes to intensify their exploitation. They have sold the rich resources of minerals like iron ore and coal as well as petroleum sources to big capital such that imperialists can get hold of them at cheap prices. And whenever and wherever there is any resistance from the people against their treacherous activities, the state applied the method of brutal suppression. Worst sufferers of such suppression and also of oppression are toiling people, dalits, tribal s and women. The hurried and hush up manner in which the Telangana bill was passed in the far end of the last Loksabha session is a proof of the manipulative and divisive game the Congress can play paying little attention to the interests of people for electoral man-oeuvre. Only the money bags of both areas of AP gained while the unity and interest of people of both the areas were trampled upon.

Through the bifurcation of AP, the ruling classes applied the age old method of divide and rule, but it turned out to be utter chaos and misrule, at the expense of interest of the people of both areas.

Taking advantage of the anger against the UPA, the NDA led by the BJP has come up in the electoral arena with Narendra Modi as Prime Ministerial Candidate. Thus by declaring the would be PM before the result of the election is a covert attempt to bring the presidential form of government where President is directly elected. Congress has followed suit by announcing Rahul Gandhi as its PM candidate. But what is the agenda of the NDA? By focusing Narendra Modi as the “Bikash Purush” (Development Leader), it has declared that the same development policy that has been practiced by Narendra Modi in Gujarat will be followed. It is nothing different from the policy of the UPA. The Gujarat model has allowed the big capitalists to thrive with the concessions from the state which means at the expense of people's money. On the other hand, Gujarat is where the worst ever communal massacre of minorities have taken place at the behest of Narendra Modi himself. The BJP- Sang Parivar clique coming to power under the grab of the NDA means all round attack on the secular fabric of the country to enhance the goal of turning India into a Hindu-Rashtra aiming to divide the people on communal basis to enhance the interest of imperialists and big bourgeoisie. The NDA coming to power would mean in the name of building strong India, jingoism would be unleashed. The NDA coming to power means people's rights would be suppressed in fascistic manner to allow the big capital to grow unhindered.

The CPI(M) led 11 party combine, popularly known as Third Front also come up in the fray. But whenever and wherever the parties of the 11 party combine came to power they followed the same development policy of globalization. They suppressed movement's of workers,peasants and other toiling masses. Essentially, they are also clearly acting to keep this system where the imperialists, big bourgeoisie and feudal exploits and oppresses the people running.

Two other forces are trying make their presence felt-The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Mamata Banerjee – Anna Hazare combine.

Mamata Banerjee who announced to build up a Federal Front ended up with the blessings of Anna Hazare as face saver. In her nearly three years of rule in West Bengal, she has been trying her best to woe big capital to invest in West Bengal. She has managed to take West Bengal to position where rapes are highest in the country. All oppositions, even within her own party, are suppressed, even killed, brutally.

AAP is a heterogeneous combination of NGOs, Socialists, Professionals and certain self-seekers. Its main plank is fight against corruption. But they have no concrete programme before the people. Whatsoever has come but from statements of their leaders' show that they are also keen to carry on the same development policy dictated by the imperialists. As if Aam Aadmi Party is a party to secure in an honest manner the interest of the exploiters of masses of people (Aam Aadmi).

Under such a situation the NDA has hired Foreign and internal agencies to carry out campaign through all sorts of media – News Papers, TV channels, Face Book etc. The UPA though late hired a Japanese agency to do the same. 11 Party combine is also trying to carry on campaigns through paid agencies. People all over the country know Mamata Banerjee has a number of TV channels to carry on her propaganda. Thousands of crores of rupees are being spent in these campaigns.

Whole electoral system has turned out to be affront to basic tenets of democracy. The real representatives of the people who are opposed to imperialist, big bourgeoisie and feudalism are way behind in their campaign due to dearth of funds. There is no level playing field.

In such a situation the CPI(ML) calls upon the people to take up the challenge to express their protest against :-

the system which forces the people to elect who would sell the country to foreign capital and suppress the democratic movement of the people;
the electoral system which has turned out to be an arrangement to cover up the characters of the ruling cliques which are subservient to imperialism and undemocratic to the core.

During the elections people will have to organize and mobilize themselves for developing struggles:-

a, to change the state run by imperialists, comprador bureaucratic capital and feudal to truly independent, democratic, self-reliant India;

b, to develop an electoral system which will allow the real representatives of the people to govern the state.

For that purpose we call upon the people to actively participate in the elections to register their protests against the manner the whole system runs. We urge upon the people :-

to support the candidates of the CPI(ML) who are contesting to fight for a truly independent, self- reliant democratic India, who have no other resources but the people and people alone.
to support also the candidates of other communist revolutionaries and patriotic democratic forces who are fighting against imperialist conspiracy over India and for a democratic India.
And in the constituencies, all over the country, where such candidates are not there, to press the NOTA (none of the above) button itself is an achievement of protracted democratic movement of the people to register their protest.