Members of the Communist Party of India (CPI) took out a protest in many parts of North Karnataka on Monday demanding a law to control communal violence, and seeking reduction in prices of essential commodities.
Raichur
CPI activists staged a demonstration at Tipu Sultan gardens near the office of the Deputy Commissioner in Raichur opposing the Union government’s “anti-farmer and anti-worker” policies. Hundreds of activists with red flags and placards raised slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union government, holding them responsible for increasing farmers’ suicides across the country.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi is hell-bent to serve the corporate class. In order to appease the international and domestic business entities, he is making all-out efforts to create an investment-friendly environment in India sacrificing the interests of farmers and labourers of this country. Implementation of anti-labour and anti-farmer policies assumed a new pace under Modi rule,” an agitating activist said during the protest.
The activists alleged that the Union government was spending more on publicity than on the welfare of working people. “The government is ready to offer tax exemption of Rs. 64,000 crore for corporate companies, but it doesn’t have Rs. 15,000 crore to waive farmers’ loans in nationalised banks. It has Rs. 250 crore for the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, but it doesn’t have Rs. 35 crore to pay safai karmacharis in Delhi. It has spent Rs. 500 crore for Yoga Day; it has Rs. 700 crore to give for Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Peetha for teaching Yoga in schools, but it doesn’t have money to increase allocation for the education sector,” said Bashumia, district secretary of the party.
Their main demands included formulating a comprehensive agriculture policy with a crop policy, price policy and market policy; implementation of the M.S. Swaminathan Commission report that recommended scientific minimum support price for all agricultural produces, restructuring Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act in order to benefit small farmers, speeding up all irrigation projects, among others.
Bidar
In Bidar, the CPI district unit members took out a rally from Ambedkar Circle to the Deputy Commissioner’s office and shouted slogans against the Union and State governments.
They said that while the Union government was yet to put in place a legal structure to combat communal forces in the country, the State government had failed to discipline such forces in Karnataka.
They also demanded fair prices for farmers, while ensuring reduced prices for essential commodities.
Kalaburagi
The Kalaburagi district unit of the party demanded the State and Union governments to deal with a firm hand, hoarders of essential commodities and prevent them from forward-trading, which were the main causes of the spiralling rise in prices of essential commodities.
CPI activists, led by its secretary Bhimashankar Madiyal, took out a procession and staged a demonstration in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office in Kalaburagi city. They demanded that the State government compensate all farmers who had lost their crops.
Besides taking up works of the Kalasa-Banduri irrigation project, the government should initiate measures to complete the ongoing irrigation projects in Kalaburagi district, they said. They also demanded the State government enact the anti-superstition bill to keep in check the communal elements.
