Resolutions Adopted By All India Left Coordination

The All India Left Coordination (AILC) held a meeting on 6th July 2013 in Delhi, attended by representatives of constituent parties.

The resolutions adopted at the meeting are as below:

1. The AILC expressed condolences at the flood calamity in Uttarakhand, and resolved to intensify the efforts to collect and disburse relief to the survivors of the tragedy. The people of Uttarakhand are struggling to rebuild their lives in the aftermath of the disaster, and relief efforts by the State and Central Governments are extremely inadequate. The AILC will pursue the question of relief and rehabilitation with the governments. The AILC also demands a thorough review of the model of development being followed in Uttarakhand and other ecologically sensitive areas of the country, since it is apparent that the environmental devastation is at the root of natural calamities.

2. The AILC welcomed the filing of a chargesheet in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case, which exposed yet again the communal and undemocratic character of the Modi model of governance. The AILC said that over the past nine years, Ishrat’s family and rights activists had struggled for justice in the face of all odds, while not only the Gujarat Government, but also the Central Government’s Home Ministry had conspired to cover up the crime. Even now, the Home Ministry’s reluctance to allow prosecution of IB officers implicated in this heinous crime was condemnable. The AILC said that the political conspiracy behind the encounter must be laid bare, and all those involved in staging the fake encounter – including Gujarat police officials, IB officers, and political leaders – must all be identified and booked. The AILC said that governments of every hue have been complicit in extra judicial killings and the witch-hunt of innocent Muslim youth. The AILC called for resisting this politics of Islamophobia tooth and nail, and hoped that justice in the Ishrat Jahan case would pave the way for justice in other cases of fake encounters in Gujarat as well as in the rest of India.

3. The AILC condemned the attempts of the UPA Government to bypass Parliament and pass a diluted Food Security Ordinance instead of a truly effective Food Security Act. The Ordinance reduces the entitlement of food; limits the rations to cereals alone; opens the door for cash to replace food rations; does nothing to boost procurement and revitalize agriculture; denies maternal benefits to mothers with more than two children; and continues with the dubious method of ‘targeting’ the needy, which excludes large sections of the poor. The Ordinance claims to cover 67% of the population. The Arjun Sengupta report had found that 77% of India’s people spend less than Rs.20 per day. The Government is yet to refute these findings, and clearly, at least 77% are undoubtedly poor, while even those spending more than Rs 20 are also poor and needy. Therefore AILC demands universal food security coverage, which instead of seeking to identify the poor can target and exclude only the obviously rich – those who enjoy property and salary above a certain ceiling. AILC demands an effective Food Security Bill to be passed in Parliament, which ensures at least 50 kg of foodgrains for each family at Rs 1 per kg; other essential food items such as millets, pulses and oil; absolutely no option of cash transfer replacing food rations; no weakening of maternal entitlements; and measures to boost procurement and revitalise agriculture.

4. The AILC condemns the UPA Government’s craven attitude of endorsing US spying operations, and denial of asylum to whistleblower Edward Snowden who exposed the spying. The AILC hails the offer of asylum to Snowden by Bolivian President Evo Morales, and condemns the shocking and unprecedented violation of international protocol by Governments of France, Portugal, Spain and Italy in denying permission for the plane carrying President Evo Morales of Boliva through their airspace. AILC demands that India resist US snooping operations and also stop its own attempts to violate the right to privacy of Indian citizens.

5. The AILC will hold a Convention on 11 August at Constitution Club marking the Centenary of the historic Ghadar movement, which represents a unique revolutionary legacy.

Swapan Mukherjee
for
All India Left Coordination (AILC)

Signatories:
CPI(ML)(Liberation)
Communist Party Marxist, Punjab
Left Coordination Committee, Kerala
Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists
Lal Nishan Party (Leninist)

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