The Hindu : CPI to launch Bharat yatra in April

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jan 14, 2003

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National

CPI to launch Bharat yatra in April

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD Jan. 13. The CPI general secretary, A. B. Bardhan, today announced that the party would launch a month-long "Bharat yatra,'' beginning in the second week of April, to oppose "communal fascism" and the economic policies of the Government.

Addressing a press conference at the conclusion of the three-day national council meeting here, Mr. Bardhan said the yatra would begin from Kanyakumari sometime between April 8 and 10 and conclude in Delhi in the first week of May. Two other segments of the yatra would commence from yet-to-be determined points in the northeast and the western part of the country. Mass organisations of peasants, students, youth, women, workers and cultural activists would take part in the yatra.

It was necessary to spread the message that religious fundamentalism was dangerous and that it diverted attention from basic issues, Mr. Bardhan said. The yatra would expose how the Bharatiya Janata Party/Vishwa Hindu Parishad /Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh was "misusing religion for political power,'' and the Centre's economic policy was ruining the working class and middle class families. It would also highlight the attacks on "secular education,'' especially school textbooks, and the BJP's attempt to introduce "communal, distorted and narrow-minded textbooks.''

Welcoming the DMK's resolution against privatisation, he called on the "secular'' parties in the National Democratic Alliance to take a firm stand on the communal and economic issues and join the Left forces.

The national council passed resolutions opposing the proposed "privatisation'' of the Periyar and the Bharatapuzha rivers, condemning the "repressive'' action of Tamil Nadu police who "ransacked'' a CPI MLA's house, denouncing the U.S.-U.K. attempts to start a war with Iraq, condemning the "subterfuge'' played by the Government on drought-hit farmers in the name of interest waiver on the kharif loans, and demanding the "redrafting'' of the Prevention of Domestic Violence Bill.

Mr. Bardhan said the CPI would contest about seven Assembly seats in Meghalaya and five in Himachal Pradesh in the coming elections. To a question, he said he was aware of the "gross neglect" of the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh and reiterated his demand for a Rs. 5000-crore special package for the region.

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