Prabhat Patnaik's reflections on the loss suffered by the Left in the recent Loksabha election.
The Central Committee of the CPI(M) in its meeting held on June 20 and 21 has adopted a review of the 15th Lok Sabha elections.
We present the full text of the review here.
There is an undoubted alliance between the Maoists, Trinamool Congress and Indian National Congress in Lalgarh and elsewhere in Bengal where the opponents of the CPI(M) are trying their best to capitalise on the latters electoral defeat to drive that party out of Bengal. But they are merely riding a rising tide of discontent among the state’s poor against the incumbent Left Front government. Unless the reasons for this are identified, it will not be possible to understand or counter the growing violence in Bengal. Writes Saibal Bishnu.
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) met in Delhi on June 20 & 21, 2009. It has issued the following statement:
The mass murder of CPI (M) supporters and activists in the Lalgarh area of West Midnapore district of West Bengal has evoked strong responses from several quarters. In the reign of terror that has been unleashed, 8 CPI (M) workers and supporters have been confirmed as killed. The actual number of dead according to local party sources is much more than that. Several party workers have been kidnapped by the armed Maoists, the possibility of whose being still alive is low,writes Roshan Kishore.
This is the text of the statement issued by intellectuals and artists on the violence against Left activists in West Bengal.
This is my article published in the latest issue of the magazine COVERT.
The Left Front in West Bengal should have been far more responsive to the various criticisms being levelled by the rest of the secular, democratic and progressive sections of society against the various acts of commission and omission on the part of the Left Front Government over the years. Instead of responding to the complaints positively and engaging the critics in a healthy debate, the response most often appear to have been to dismiss the criticisms as unwarranted and motivated. The Left Front, in fact, began to question the very credentials of the critics instead of examining the veracity of the criticisms. Many of the critics on their part chose to gloss over the positive contributions made by the Left Front Government and instead began to overplay the negative aspects of its rule out of proportion. Extreme sectarian attitude on both sides has precipitated the present outcome. Nevertheless, the urgency of building and strengthening the unity of the secular, democratic and progressive sections in this country cannot be over-emphasised.
N.D.Jayaprakash writes.
It is important that some false theories on the defeat of the left in West Bengal should be critically argued against. This article is an attempt in that direction.