North-East regional jatha flagged off
Manik Sarkar, CPI(M) Polit bureau member and the chief minister of Tripura flagged off one of the sub-jathas of the Sangarsh Sandesh Jatha from Guwahati on 23rd February as a part of CPI (M)’s country-wide campaign against price rise, unemployment and corruption etc. Addressing a rally on this occasion Manik Sarkar dealt at length on the issues of the Jatha organized throughout the length and breadth of the country. The North-East’s Jatha will merge with the Eastern Jatha in Kolkata on February 28.
Lambasting the policies of the Congress led UPA government, Manik Sarkar said, “The policies of the ruling class has created a great divide between the rich and poor of the country. 77% of Indians cannot spend even 20 rupees per day. There is escalation in the prices of essential commodities. Still, the government is refusing to universalize the PDS and supply 35kgs of rice/wheat at maximum price of rupees 2 per kilo to each family”.
He said that though majority of the Indians are youth, more than 20 crore among them are educated and unemployed. Significant number of people are illiterate and have no access to healthcare facilities. In the name of lack of funds, government is making healthcare inaccessible to common people by privatising the sector. On the other hand, there is rampant corruption and huge accumulation of black money in foreign banks. Through this jatha, CPI (M) will reach out to the common people in the country highlighting the failures of UPA government,” Sarkar said.
Pointing out that majority of farmers in the country did not own lands, Sarkar said: “Land reform is one of the prime demands of this jatha. In fact, we have been raising the demand for land reforms since independence. In spite of the laws, successive governments at the centre and in many states failed to implement them. As a result majority of the farmers live in utter misery”, Sarkar pointed out.
Sarkar said that even the recent President's address to the both houses of the parliament did not raise these problems of the common people of our country. On the issue of black money, Sarkar said that the government is doing nothing except indulging in big talk. “If this money is brought back to the country, it would easily be able to fund welfare schemes for the poor,” he said.
Criticising the Congress for its lip sympathy towards women's issues, Sarkar said that it has been using reservation of women in the parliament as only an election promise. “After it came to power in the Centre, Congress has given up pursuing the bill for reservation of women. If Congress is really serious it should by now passed the bill. We Left parties would support it,” he added.
Terming the recent 48-hour country-wide strike as expression of resentment of common people, Manik Sarkar has called for mightier struggles against price rise, unemployment and corruption. “The recent general strike was a massive success because it had the support of the common people. Apart from the Left trade unions, even the INTUC and BMS too participated in the strike. This in itself reflects that majority of the workers and people are against the policies of the government”.
The public meeting was presided by veteran CPI (M) leader Hemen Das. Uddhab Barman, Assam State Secretary and Noorul Hooda veteran leader of the party too addressed the gathering.
The Jatha after the flag-off, has already reached Sorbhog of Barpeta district. On the way two gatherings were organized at Rangia and Ghograpar.
