Addressing a memorial meeting in Hajipur for senior party leader Visheshwar Prasad Yadav on 23 November, CPIML General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said the country has entered a dangerous phase. He said more than 70 lakh names were removed from the Bihar voter list in one stroke, around 40 lakh removals were entirely unjustified and another 20 to 25 lakh names were added. He said the balance of every booth was altered just before polling.
He said that when any government distributes thirty thousand crore rupees under different schemes right before elections after ignoring people for four years the result is visible to everyone. He said rules and procedures were openly violated in the Bihar elections and the entire electoral mechanism became a mockery.
CPIML General Secretary said this government is not the previous one. Nitish Kumar is chief minister but not home minister. The home department has been handed to Samrat Choudhary who has the Uttar Pradesh model before him. He said bulldozer rule will be seen in Bihar. In Uttar Pradesh no action is taken against savarna feudal elements but bulldozers are used continuously on Dalit backward and minority communities. He said the same pattern is set for Bihar.
He recalled the killing of Dularchandra Yadav during the election period. He said one deputy chief minister talks of running bulldozers over people’s chests and preventing the poor from even stepping out of their homes. Some forces he said want to drag Bihar back to the 1990s. He called for firm resistance at every step. He noted the promises made during the campaign about new industrial factories higher cash transfers permanent flood solutions and reopening of sugar mills. He said the time has come to demand accountability for every promise.
Com. Dipankar noted that the four labour codes were pushed on the country and were implemented immediately after the Bihar result. He said the codes convert eight hours of work into twelve hours make strikes almost impossible and offer no job security even though the government claims they improve worker safety. Basic pay has been set at fifty percent. He called for a large nationwide protest on 26 November.
He referred to the 18 November report of the killing of Maoist leader Hidma. He said many Maoist leaders have been killed and many have surrendered but Hidma who came from an Adivasi community of Chhattisgarh and fought for jal jungle zameen against corporate plunder should not have been killed after his elderly mother appealed for his return. He said Bastar is grieving. He connected the labour codes and the Hidma killing to what he described as policies favouring Adani.
He said if it was possible to drive out the British when their power spanned the world then it is possible to stop today’s authoritarianism. Whatever happened in the election will be analysed he said but the fight against coercion and misuse of the vote will continue. He said women were misled during the campaign and now social oppression and bulldozer rule are rising. He said the fight against corporate plunder will continue and that Visheshwar Prasad Yadav will live on in every step of this struggle.
Senior farmer leader K D Yadav AIPWA general secretary Meena Tiwari and farmer union state secretary Umesh Singh along with many leaders from state and district attended the memorial. Visheshwar Prasad Yadav originally from Vaishali had died during election work in Supaul.
