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CPI-M manifesto tars both Congress and BJP

The Communist Party of India-Marxist today released its election manifesto in which it rejected the contention that the people have to choose between the Bharatiya Janata Party-led combination and the Congress-led alternative at the Centre, and resolved to strengthen the left and democratic forces in the country.

The manifesto was released in New Delhi by the party's general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet, and said the economic policies of the BJP and Congress were similar. The basic policy of the Congress did not provide an alternative to the BJP. The Congress still advocated the economic policy initiated by it in 1991 which was against the interests of the toiling masses in the country. The Congress was bereft of the political and ideological will to rally all the secular and democratic forces to fight the menace of communal forces. It has not shown any determination to stamp out corruption which marked its earlier period of rule, the manifesto said

The CPI-M said whether it was privatisation and further liberalisation, opening up of insurance sector to the private companies and the patents' bill, the Congress does not offer any alternative to the disastrous performance of the BJP-led government.

The industrial crisis had been aggravated in the country during the BJP rule. A large number of industrial units had been closed and many people were rendered jobless. The plight of the agricultural workers had not improved. The CPI-M assured them that if it came to power at the Centre, a legislation for agricultural workers to protect their basic rights guaranteeing minimum wages, pension and other benefits, homestead lands and equal wages for equal work for both men and women will be enacted. Land reforms will be accorded priority. Steps will be taken to plug loopholes and to stop big business and foreign companies from taking over land in the country, the manifesto said.

In the interest of the farming community, sale of agricultural lands to foreign companies and their subsidiaries will be prohibited, the manifesto said . The CPI-M will endeavour to strengthen the public distribution system to provide 14 essential commodities to the common man, end disinvestment in the public sector units, work out a suitable package for the revival of the sick PSUs, including NTC mills, fertilisers units, IISCO and IDPL. Need-based minimum wages will be provided. The ceiling on the payment of bonus and compensation to the workers will be abolished.

The CPI-M will also strive to provide reservation to women in the Lok Sabha and other elected bodies. Women will be assured equal property and inheritance rights. Housing will be treated as a basic right of urban and rural poor. Right to work will be guaranteed as a fundamental right and social justice to the Dalits and Adivasis will be provided, the manifesto said.

Lashing out at the BJP for its ''failure'' to honour the commitments made to the people before the last general elections, the CPI-M said it will reverse its ''harmful foreign policy'' and will follow an independent and non-aligned foreign policy. It will oppose ''superpower hegemony'' of the US and intervention by the NATO and US on Iraq, Iran, Yugoslavia and Cuba.

Nuclear weaponisation will be stopped in the sub-continent and the country will not be a signatory to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Cooperation between India and the US in the defence sphere will be cancelled. Talks with Pakistan will be reopened to ensure a ''denuclearised South Asia,'' the manifesto said.

The CPI-M said if it came to power at the Centre, it will also try to introduce compulsory primary education with free mid-day meals, text books and other materials. There would be rapid expansion of the primary school network. Salaries of elementary school teachers will be upgraded. Ten per cent of the Union budget will be earmarked for education. Mass literacy programmes will be promoted. Vocational education will be encouraged, it added.

UNI

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