THE CPIML submitted a memorandum to the Election Commission on 29 June 2020 with regard to the Bihar Assembly election, demanding that there should be extensive people’s participation in the election and equal opportunity for all Parties.
The CPIML believes that the method of virtual campaigning will prove advantageous only to the BJP and ruling parties, and economically weaker parties will be able to communicate only partially with the people. As such, the whole election process will be one-sided and not a true expression of democratic rights of the people. Therefore, the CPIML wishes to know from the Election Commission how it will include the larger part of people in the election process and give equal opportunity to all parties.
The intensity of the Corona pandemic is going to increase further by August-September. In that situation, what is the Election Commission going to do for preventive measures? Will the EVMs be sanitized each time after a vote is cast? The Commission says that there will not be more than 1000 voters at one booth; but even this number is big and the possibility of infection is strong. Therefore the Commission should give serious consideration to this issue also.
The Election Commission must make clear what measures it will take to prevent Corona infection, ensure extensive participation of the people, and provide equal opportunity for all parties.
The border dispute with Chine can be resolved peacefully and politically, but we are witnessing BJP-JDU trying to steal the Bihar elections through war-mongering and incitement of parochial feelings. The Prime Minister’s particular discussion of the bravery of the ‘Bihar Regiment’ is an attempt to incite parochial feelings for getting electoral mileage. The government is keeping the country in the dark about the border dispute. If no encroachment has been done on our borders, how and why did our soldiers die? We demand that the government should bring out a white paper on the current sequence of events on the border.
The Lockdown has broken the backs of all workers, including migrant workers. Migrant workers who have returned to Bihar are facing a grave crisis, but the government has washed its hands of their problems. Their future is dark, but the government is busy with virtual rallies instead of protecting the rights of the workers. It is the height of shamelessness that the BJP-JDU is asking for people’s votes after treating them so callously and cruelly.
People’s anger against the Modi-Nitish government is at its peak today because of its silence on issues of Lockdown Allowance, guarantee of rations and employment and MNREGA work and wages; auctioning off the country’s resources at throwaway prices; sky-high hikes in petrol-diesel prices and the resultant rise in prices of all goods. Workers who have returned from Gujarat say that they had been lathi-charged dozens of times and false cases have been slapped against them, but there has been so statement from PM Modi or Amit Shah, and no word of comfort or consolation for them.
The so-called double engine government in Bihar has done everything to raze the poor and dalits with bulldozers. The people of Bihar are aspiring to oust this government and throw it out. The narrative of development that they have attempted to create over the last 15 years lies exposed and in tatters today. Migration in search of livelihood is rampant; hutments of the poor are being razed; unemployment is at its peak; there is zero development in agriculture; and now, just before the elections, the government is pretending to ‘invest in industry’. All in all, this government has terrorized and betrayed the people. For the next 2 months, CPIML will organize a door-to-door campaign against this government.
Our efforts will be to build a better understanding with anti-BJP forces including the Left as well as other opposition parties. However, the Lok Sabha election experience of 2019 was not good for the Left. The Left in Bihar is a Party of struggle; therefore any understanding should be with respect and dignity.
CPIML will submit memorandums at all District HQs with the following demands: loan waivers for SHGs; government should repay debts to micro-finance companies; each SHG or cluster of SHGs should be provided with means of employment with guarantee of procurement of the products made by them; interest-free loans for SHGs; minimum monthly honorarium of Rs 10000 for Jeevika workers.
On 7 July, memorandums will be submitted at all Block HQs with the following g demands: employment for migrant workers; Rs 7500 Lockdown Allowance for the next 6 months, 10 kg food grains for the next 6 months, 200 days’ work and Rs 500 minimum wage in MNREGA for all families that do not come in the Income Tax ambit.
Recently about 100 people were killed due to lightning strike. The government’s disaster management proves to be a gigantic failure each time natural disaster strikes. We demand that the government should pay Rs 20000 as compensation to the families of each deceased victim and strengthen health services on the ground level.
Despite all promises, Patna got flooded in the very first rains of this season, exposing the government’s false claims. The people of Patna are still in fear and terror of what they went through in the horrific floods last year. This year also things seem to moving towards a similar crisis.
