Socialist Party (India)
National Executive Committee Meeting, Delhi
8 August 2018
Political Resolution
The Indian Constitution is passing through the crisis of a serious threat from the ruling establishment of the country. The present government is not only destroying the basic values of socialism, secularism and democracy embedded in the Constitution, but its leaders are also openly declaring that they are working in the government to make changes in the Constitution. They are openly advocating for a pro-corporate, theocratic and dictatorial India which is against the very nature of the Constitution that ensures a socialist, secular and democratic India. It is not only the Muslim minority but the right to life and dignity of other minorities and vulnerable sections of the society such as dalits, adivasis and women too are under threat. Those who oppose this anti-constitutional design of the government are killed in broad day light and no action is taken against killers.
The Modi government is promoting the private sector at the cost of public sector and diluting the labour laws in favour of industrialists. The Government is determined to dismantle public sector, the basic anchor to a socialist society. The centralisation of power in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) is another example of crushing the constitutional spirit of democracy and decentralisation. Now this government is promoting the 'one nation one election' campaign. This idea is against the federal and democratic spirit of the Constitution.
In such a challenging situation every Indian citizen who believes in the propriety of the Constitution must give a serious thought to the dangerous developments taking place in the country. The Socialist Party condemns this unconstitutional, inhuman and undemocratic attitude of the government in strongest terms.
This government has completely failed in its economic policies. The government's favorite corporate houses are grabbing the country's wealth. People associated with BJP, the government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are fleeing the country by robbing the country's wealth. Many incentives/facilities are being given to foreign capital, but neither economy is benefiting nor employment is being created. The government has adopted an unsteady attitude towards farmers' debt waiver and beneficial prices of agriculture produce. By changing the labor law, the life of the laborers has been made completely insecure. With the government's anti-permanent employment-related policies, the number of educated unemployed is increasing steadily. Modi's election promise to give employment to 20 million youths has proved to be hollow. In the Government departments, the posts of third and fourth grade employees are not filled even there are vacancies. There are about 25 lakh posts are lying vacant in government departments. Moreover, the government is working on the designs to place the senior executives of private companies in the position of Joint Secretary in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) directly.
The focus of the government is not to provide basic facilities like roads, water, electricity, transport, hospital, school/college in the rural India/small towns. On the contrary it is indulged in developing smart cities, large airports, flyovers, bullet trains etc. The government took a loan of Rs one lakh crore from Japan for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train. About 12 thousand km of rail lines can be set up at such expenditure.
The Government is responsible for providing common, quality and free education to all children of the country under its constitutional obligation. But the Modi government has closed thousands of government schools. Higher education is being privatized rapidly. The existing scholarships for tribal and dalit students are being either cut or delayed. In addition to privatization, this government is rapidly promoting communalisation of syllabus/courses.
Modi government's foreign policy has not succeeded in South Asia and other parts of the world. Modi spends billions of rupees out of the public exchequer in his frequent foreign tours. But his foreign policy has failed to protect national interests. Neighbouring countries Nepal and Sri Lanka are being dissatisfied with India and going closer to China. Myanmar's attitude is also of indifference. The relationship with Bangladesh is friendly at present, but the anti-Muslim statements of the RSS/BJP leaders and the government's tactics of communal polarization is itself spoiling the environment. The government also appears to be working under American pressure regarding the old allies like Iran and Palestine. Indonesia and Egypt too are not happy with India. China's ambitions are increasing. The US, Russia and Japan are also experiencing difficulties in front of her. In this way, no friend of India is seen around the world. There is no say of India in global affairs.
The problem of presence of illegal Bangladeshi nationals in Assam is quite complex and old. When the students movement against the Bangladeshi infiltration in Assam held in the eighties, they were supported by socialists and Gandhians of the country. The National Register of Citizenship (NRC) recently issued by the present government excludes names of over 40 lakh people. If their families are added then this number will be more than one crore. It is being said that most of the 4 million people out of the National Citizen Register are Indian citizens. These include both Hindus and Muslims. Putting such a large number of people in one state of insecurity shows that the duty to prepare the NRC has not been fulfilled properly. It seems that the government was quick to issue a NRC for electoral gains rather than a proper solution to the problem. This essential work of national interest should have been done in a non-political manner. But the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership did not act maturity.
The Socialist Party (India) urges the country's political leadership to ensure that instead of doing vote politics on this sensitive issue, make sure that no single Indian citizen is left out of the National Register of Citizens whether they belong to any religion, caste and state.
Citizens of Jammu & Kashmir state had observed two-day bandh to support the demand that Article 35 A, an addition to the Article 370 made by the relevant Presidential Proclamation in 1954, be protected. The SPI extends its support to this demand on the ground that the people, who were inhabitants of the area occupied by Pakistan after its aggression in 1947, were to be treated as original residents of J&K state and be allowed to enjoy the rights like purchasing immovable property. People in the days between 1947 and 1954, belonging to the Pak-occupied Kashmir, while returning to J&K state had faced legal difficulty because they were deemed to be citizen belonging to a foreign country called Pakistan. With a view to overcome this legal hitch, a provision was made in the relevant Presidential Proclamation. The matter is directly relevant for a few thousand families who had returned to J&K state from Pak-occupied Kashmir. The SPI appeals to the honourable Supreme Court and the Government of India to uphold the validity of Article 35 A. The party does not accept the argument of the BJP that the Article 35 A is not legitimate part of the Constitution, and therefore to be treated as null and void, because it was not enacted in the Parliament.
The SPI once again demands that the long-pending Women Reservation Bill should be implemented without further delay.
Both Modi and Amit Shah are supreme in the affairs of the BJP and the government. Both of them have come to know that the people of the country are not happy and the trust of youth has broken up with the present government. In order to win the election of 2019, they both are working on mainly three strategies - first, communal polarization, secondly, talking about the leader instead of policies, third, winning over the young voters in their favor who would cast their votes first time in 2019 election.
This is a challenging situation in front of the public and the opposition of the country. They should emphasize the policies, and not the leaders in the 2019 elections. The nature of opposition unity should be such that there is no division of votes against the National Democratic Alliance. The SPI will play a positive role in this direction.
(Prepared by Dr. Prem Singh, president, presented by Manju Mohan, general secretary, supported by Rambabu Aggarwal, vice president.)
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