Left victories signal feature of 2006

OPINION: Sitaram Yechury

The CPI(M) and the Left forced the government to declare that it would not ignore the issues raised by them

The signal feature of 2006 has been the resounding victories of the CPI(M)-led Left Front in the Assembly elections in West Bengal and Kerala. In West Bengal , the Left Front won for a record seventh consecutive term. These victories have strengthened the Left and its capacity to raise, at the national level, such policy matters as are directed at improving the people's livelihood and the sovereignty of our country.

While the struggle against neo-liberal policies continues to intensify globally, such popular struggles are also on the rise domestically, here in India.

The CPI(M) and the Left, on whose crucial support this UPA government continues, have been putting constant pressure for implementation of whatever pro-people policies are contained in the Common Minimum Programme. These pressures were strengthened during the course of 2006 through big mass mobilisations and protest actions.

All these, put together, have been able to partially succeed in halting, if not rolling back, the neo-liberal agenda of economic reforms(!) in India. Privatisation of the public sector has been kept on hold. The pension bill, the banking bill and the moves to increase the FDI cap in various sectors like insurance have also been resisted. Needless to add, these struggles will have to be intensified in 2007 as it would be naïve to believe that the neo-liberal pundits would abandon their agenda.

While pressing the UPA government to redeem its promises made in the Common Minimum Programme, other urgent issues also demand attention in 2007. The crisis in rural India is deepening, with agrarian distress continuing to intensify. No number of packages announced by the prime minister has stemmed the tide of growing suicides by farmers. Agricultural growth continues to stagnate at levels disturbingly lower than the all-India growth of over 9 per cent tomtomed by the official spokesmen.

Finally, the forest bill has been enacted. Crores of tribals and other traditional forest dwellers, who have been residing in forests for generations, will finally have their legal rights recorded. Along with the Rural Employment Guarantee Act and the Right to Information Act, this legislation constitutes an important element of the CPI(M) and the Left's struggle to shift the focus of economic reforms in the country "" away from being preoccupied with capitalist profits and towards improving the people's welfare. Needless to add once again, these struggles need to be intensified in 2007 to ensure that there is indeed such a shift in the focus of "reforms."

In foreign policy, the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal is rightly being seen as a part of the US imperialist efforts to reduce India to a supplicant of its strategic global interest. India's vote in the International Atomic Energy Agency on the Iran issue was a product of such efforts. Through popular pressure and interventions from parliament, where the entire non-UPA parties openly exposed such dangers, the government was forced to declare that it shall not ignore any of the nine issues raised by the CPI(M) and the Left.

(The above is an extract of an editorial which appeared in the New Year issue of CPM publication People's Democracy)