Guwahati, Nov 26: The Left parties will highlight what they term as the agrarian crisis impacting the rural areas of Assam and seek to formulate an alternative programme for revival of the farm sector as part of the electoral strategy for the forthcoming panchayat polls in the State.
In an interaction with The Assam Tribune, Communist Party of India (Marxist) State committee secretary Suprakash Talukdar asserted that unity among the Opposition parties is crucial to defeat the ruling BJP-led NDA.
“Assam’s rural areas are facing a massive agrarian crisis and people in the villages are staring at ruin. The number of farm labourers in many villages in Assam is now more than the number of farmers. Agriculture is no longer viable due to the high input costs of farming and lower minimum support prices of crops. We shall have to fight to bring about policies that can save the rural economy and the agriculture sector. And this is a very serious battle,” Talukdar said.
The panchayat elections are slated to take place in January-February next year. “The four Left parties - CPI(M), CPI, CPI(ML) Liberation, and RCPI- have decided that we shall try to prepare an alternative programme for Assam, with special focus on the rural areas and the population residing in villages. The rural areas have to be revitalised if Assam is to progress, as our State is predominantly rural. The Left will expose the BJP-led government's failures on the rural development front and the resultant agrarian crisis that has impacted lakhs of families. The government's policies have also led to an acute unemployment problem in Assam,” Talukdar said.
The CPI(M) has started forming constituency and ward-level committees across Assam following the recent delimitation of panchayats.
“This has been done specifically with an eye on the panchayat polls,” said the senior Marxist leader. Asked if the CPI(M) is planning to tie-up with other parties for the panchayat elections, he said, “First we are identifying the seats and wards where we believe our party is in a strong position to field its own candidates. After that we shall address the question of seat adjustment. Coordination among the Left parties has been strengthened. There would not be any problem in arriving at an adjustment or seat-sharing formula among the Left parties for the panchayat polls. As far as the non-Left Opposition parties are concerned, we need to first gauge their intentions in this regard. This time the panchayat polls in Assam would be held without use of party symbols at the gaon panchayat (GP) level. How to deal with alliance or seat-sharing arrangements in such a situation would need careful analysis. But party symbols would be used for polls in the anchalik panchayat (AP) and zila parishad (ZP) levels. Having a formal alliance at those levels would be easier as the number of seats/constituencies is less than at the GP level.”
Talukdar added that the 24th State conference of the CPI(M) will be held on January 5-7 at Guwahati. “During the conference, we shall formulate our party's position on different issues affecting the State. Our State committee will also be reorganised on the occasion. Local and district committee conferences of the party are now going on across Assam. The total number of district committees of our party in Assam will increase to 29 this time from 27 earlier. We are now going to have newly constituted district committees in Baksa and Charaideo for the first time,” said the CPI(M) State secretary.
Talukdar, who is also the working president of the 15-party Asom Sonmilito Morcha (ASOM), blamed the Congress for the clean sweep made by the NDA in the recent bye-elections to five Assembly seats.
“The bye-election results proved that unity among the Opposition parties is imperative to defeat the BJP. The unilateral decision of the Congress to fight the bye-elections on its own led to this outcome. In addition, the BJP resorted to politics of intimidation in Samaguri, including threatening the electorate and resorting to violence. BJP has brought a new disturbing trend in Assam's politics. This should be countered very seriously by the Opposition parties," he said.
Asked if there is a likelihood of the Congress coming back to the fold of ASOM, Talukdar said, “First we have to sit down together and discuss this matter. ASOM is led by senior leaders like Ajit Kumar Bhuyan and Lurinjyoti Gogoi. We shall have to discuss the way ahead."
-By Pranjal Bhuyan
