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The Polit Bureau of the CPI (M) expresses its profound grief at the passing away of Comrade Jyoti Basu, senior most leader of the Party and one of the tallest leaders of the Communist movement in India who was the Chief Minister of the Left Front government of West Bengal from 1977 to 2000. He was 95 years old. Jyoti Basu became a Communist while studying law in Britain. He came in contact with the British Communist party. He joined the Communist Party of India on his return in 1940. He began working in the railway trade union movement and became an important functionary of the B.A. Railroad Workers Union and the All India Railwaymen's Federation. In 1946,he was elected to the Bengal legislative assembly from a railway constituency. He was the Secretary of the provincial committee of the CPI from 1953 to 1961. He became a member of the Central Committee of the CPI in 1951. When the CPI (M) was formed he became one of the founder Polit Bureau and Central Committee members, position...

Marxist patriarch and former West Bengal [ Images ] Chief Minister Jyoti Basu, who was battling for life in a hospital in Kolkata [ Images ] for the last fortnight, died on Sunday. "I have to give you the sad news that Jyoti Basu is no longer with us," Biman Bose, the chairman of the Left Front coordination committee, told reporters around 1230 IST. An emotional Bose said Jyoti Babu is no longer in this world. Basu, 96, who had suffered multi-organ failure was on a temporary pacemaker since late Saturday night. Basu's personal physician Dr Ajit Kumar Maity said that the veteran leader breathed his last at 11:47 am at the AMRI Hospital where he was admitted with pneumonia on January 1. He was put on a ventilator on January 6. Basu, who strode the political arena like a colossus for over six decades, is survived by son Chandan. His wife Kamal pre-deceased him four years ago. The Communist Party of India [ Images ] leader was the longest serving chief minister in Indian poli...

Thiruvananthapuram: The CPM is at cross roads, both in national level and in Kerala.  With the party state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan figuring in the list of prime accused in the the 374-crore Lavalin power scam, the image of the CPM has taken a beating. The electoral debacle of the CPM in the Lok Sabha elections in Kerala owes a decent share of reasons to the CBI move to charge sheet Pinarayi Vijayan in the case. However, it is not exactly the magnitude of the scam or the public conviction on the allegations that brought shame to the CPM. But, it is the way the Centre and state leadership of the party prefers to respond to the allegations that put the CPM under cloud. Never before in the history, the CPM centre leadership succumbed to pressures of inner party politics and failed to assess the ground realities. Rather than making any efforts to initiate a cleanup process, the  Centre leadership of the CPM led by Prakash Karat  resorts to balancing acts and patch up formulas between the...

Dear Friends/Comrades, The first round of polling for the 15th Lok Sabha will take place dayafter tomorrow, i.e., the 16th of April. Voting for all the constituencies in Kerala will be held on this day. We appeal to all of you to please go out and cast your vote. Also, takealong your family members, neighbours and friends and make sure thateveryone votes. Please vote for the LDF candidates and ensure that theywin. To this mail we have attached the list of the LDF candidates in Kerala. Please see below an appeal to the people of Kerala signed by eminentintellectuals and artists. Lal Salaam! Campaign Teamvote.cpim.org The people of Kerala, along with some other States, will vote on 16thApril 2009 to elect their representatives to the Indian Parliament. Theseelections are important because they will determine the policy orientationof the Central Government, especially at a time when the entire world istrying to grapple with the biggest capitalist crisis of our times.Communalism, religious...

Recently the CBI have submitted the enquiry report on the lavalin in the kerala high court. The CBI have added a former electricity minister of kerala also a nineth accused in the case. The Left parties have benn saying that the enquiry is potically motivated. But from the Newpaper and press report available it is seen that something has gone wrong some where. I never feel that the pinarayi vijayan CPI(M) state secreatary have done something wrong for a personal or political benefit.but some question asked by the CBI have to be answered to the public like me. Some question asked by the CBI like the 1. why no Global tender. 2. from where do the malabar cancer centre came into the agreement. variuos other question also remain. These question require correct answer and not the political answers. i alway have a respect for the left party concept and ideology.My suggestion to Left party as a fan is take the case as challenge in the court and prove your point in the court. One thing is sure ...

The UPA Government has refused to submit the draft text of the IAEA Safeguards Agreement to the UPA-Left committee. As the experience of the 123 agreement has shown, the claims of the Government made prior to the negotiations are not borne out by the actual text. Thus the full text of the agreement is necessary to clarify the major issues involved.The first major issue relates to the possibility of the US terminating civilian nuclear cooperation with India for any reason in the future. India already had such an experience, when the US suspended nuclear fuel supplies to the Tarapur Atomic Power Station in 1983, reneging upon a thirty year contract signed in 1963. In the present case, the IAEA safeguards would continue even in such a scenario, since they are applicable in perpetuity to the entire civilian nuclear energy sector. The text of the 123 agreement has very ambiguous references to India taking "corrective measures" if nuclear fuel supplies from abroad are discontinued....

The Left parties have issued the following statement: On Withdrawal of Support to the UPA GovernmentThe Left Parties have withdrawn support to the UPA Government. The UPA Government came into existence in 2004 with the support of the Left parties on the basis of its Common Minimum Programme. The aim was to fight the communal forces and undo the damage they had done to the secular polity of India in their years in office. This required a set of interlinked policies to bring relief to the people, to protect India's integrity and to pursue an independent foreign policy. By going ahead with the deal at a time when there is the crushing burden of price-rise and galloping inflation, the Manmohan Singh Government has clearly shown that it is more concerned about fulfilling its commitment to the Bush administration rather than meeting its commitment to the people of India.The Indo-US Nuclear Deal is against India's vital interests. The Congress-led government has embraced a strategic ...

The hike in the prices of petrol, diesel and LPG announced by the Government today is unjustified. If the suggestions put forward by the Left Parties are taken into account, this price hike would be totally unnecessary.The Government has said that the price hike would lead to additional earnings of Rs. 21123 crore for the Public Sector Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs). This amount can be easily mobilised to provide relief to the OMCs by doing the following: v Rs. 7500 crore per annum cess collected from ONGC and Oil India Ltd. under the Oil Industry Development (OID) Act, 1974, which is not being used for the development of the petroleum sector, can be used to create a Price Stabilisation Fund, from which the OMCs can be compensated. v If excise duties on petrol and diesel are cut by Rs. 3/litre instead of Re. 1/litre as has been done presently, a further relief of around Rs. 12000 crore can be provided to the OMCs.v According to the Statement of Revenue Foregone in the Union...

The government has announced a steep increase in prices of petroleum products across the board. The price of petrol per litre is increased by Rs. 5; diesel by Rs. 3; and LPG cylinder by Rs. 50. This onslaught on the people comes at a time when they are suffering from the steep price rise of all essential commodities. In the background of the failure of the government to tackle the rising rate of inflation, this hike in petroleum prices will further aggravate the inflationary situation.The increase in the price of diesel, in particular, will have a cascading effect on all-round prices as the transportation costs will rise sharply. Rs. 50 increase in the price of LPG cylinder will also be a crushing burden on family budget of ordinary people.The Left parties had given a set of alternative proposals which have been ignored by the government for the past three years. The only substantial step taken is the doing away of the 5 per cent import duty on crude oil.It is to be noted that ...

The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly condemns the brutal police firings on May 23 and 24, killing 35 people and injuring more than a hundred, in Rajasthan. The Vasundhara Raje government which has earned notoriety in police firings is solely responsible for the present killings. The BJP government has not learnt any lesson from last year's incidents and completely bungled in tackling the agitation.The Polit Bureau urges upon the Vasundhara Raje government to immediately stop police repression and talk to the leaders of the agitation for arriving at an amicable settlement.

he Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly condemns the horrific bomb blasts in Jaipur city which has led to the loss of sixty lives and 200 injured. This terrorist attack was designed to inflict the maximum casualties in the crowded areas of the city.The modus operandi of the explosions reveal a common pattern with earlier attacks in other cities. The security agencies have to take all necessary steps to uncover the network of groups behind these outrages.The design behind this attack is also to disrupt communal peace and harmony. We appeal to the people of Jaipur to remain calm and united. The CPI(M) extends its heartfelt condolences to all the families who have suffered a grievous loss. No effort should be spared for medical treatment of the injured. The state government should take steps to provide relief and compensation to those who have lost their family members.

The profits enjoyed by private oil companies in the country have increased along with increase in oil prices. Due to the selective policy of the Government, private sector companies both in upstream and downstream are enjoying windfall profits arising not due to extra business acumen or competitive business approach but due to the high global crude price.With crude oil prices now exceeding $ 100 per barrel, it is necessary that windfall gains be recovered from all the private and joint venture oil producing companies like M/s Cairns, Reliance, Essar etc extracting oil and gas in India. When these contractors participated in the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP), none of them could have envisaged crude oil prices beyond $ 30 per barrel. It would be a failure on Government's part to allow upstream contractors additional gain of $ 70 per barrel - $ 80 per barrel without any extra work. Many other countries have gone ahead and re-negotiated their contracts with a threat of imposi...

Press Release The Central Committee of the CPI(M) warmly greets the people of Tripura who have created history. First by 92 per cent polling which is a record for the country and then delivering more than 80 per cent of the seats to the CPI(M) and the Left Front. The Left Front has won 49 out of the 60 seats in the assembly compared to 41 in the last assembly. The stage has been set for the sixth Left Front government in the state.The Central Committee congratulates the CPI(M) and Left Front cadres and activists for their remarkable success. Due to the outstanding record of the Left Front government, all sections of the working people, tribal and non-tribal and even supporters of the Congress have extended support to the Party. The people have rejected the opportunist alliance of the Congress with the extremist INPT.The Central Committee is confident that the new Left Front government will continue the work of developing the state and raising the living standards of the people.

Press Statement Attack on Central Committee Office CondemnedThe Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly condemns the planned attack on its national headquarters by the BJP-RSS. The Central Committee meeting of the Party was in session at that time. Four Central Committee members and other office staff were injured in the attack. The attackers brought stones alongwith them and damaged the office building and vehicles parked outside. This unprovoked violence should be condemned by all political parties and such attacks can have no place in our politics. The few policemen who were there on the spot did nothing much to control the situation.The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) demand that the BJP-RSS persons who were involved in this dastardly attack should be immediately arrested.