Left to protest
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, September 22 2020:
Left parties in Manipur viz Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India (Marxist), All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) and Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) convened a meeting today at Irabot Bhawan, BT Road, Imphal and strongly condemned the manner in which all Parliamentary procedures and norms have been allegedly thrown to the winds by the BJP Government and for 'bulldozing' legislations, mortgaging Indian agriculture.
The parties in a joint statement said that such destruction of Parliamentary democracy displays fascistic tendencies and the same was done in Manipur while discussing the vote of confidence moved by the Biren-led Government.
If the BJP Government thinks it will silence the Opposition by suspending 8 Opposition MPs, including two Left MPs (RS) from Parliament for a week, it will not, the parties said.
The NDA Government, led by the BJP, is a divided coalition now as Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Union Cabinet Minister of Food Processing has resigned from the Narendra Modi Cabinet.
The parties also quoted Harsimrat Kaur Badal's remark "I have resigned from the Union Cabinet in protest against anti-farmer Ordinances and legislation.
Proud to stand with farmers as their daughter and sister," in the statement.
The mainstream Left parties also reiterated their commitment to safeguard Indian Parliament, Indian Constitution and its Preamble and called upon the people to rise in protest against such assaults being mounted against the Constitution.
Legislations including the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion of Facilitation) Bill and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, will destroy Indian agriculture and farmers, it said while adding that such handover of the entire sector to agrobusiness corporates will lead to the abolishing of minimum support price to the farmers, the complete destruction of the public distribution system, promote unscrupulous traders and giant corporations to hoard food, thus artificially creating food scarcity, sending prices up astronomically.
These legislations severely threaten India's food security, it alleged.
The Left parties also called upon all their units all across Manipur to extend full support and solidarity to the call given by the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee, which is a conglomeration of farmers and peasant organisations in the country for a Nationwide protests on September 25 demanding the withdrawal of these legislations.
The Left parties further urged their lower units to draw programmes of protests at their level in consultation with other political parties and peasants and farmer organisations to force the Central Government to withdraw these legislations in the interest of the rural masses.
In the meantime, the Left student organisations (SFI, AISF, AISA, PSU, AISB) also maintained that they will support the all India protest called on September 25 .