Editorial

How to Change the World

AS we observe the bicentenary of the birth of Karl Marx, one cannot but be struck by the innumerable times Marxism was declared dead or irrelevant after he had left the scene a hundred and thirty five years ago.  However, Marx and his thought, kept bouncing back to public attention.  This is because the ideas of Marx, concern social and historical change and that is something which cannot become anachronistic at any period of time. Karl Marx was born 200 years ago on May 5, 1818.  He died on March 14, 1883 at the age of 65.

For A Strong CPI(M) With An All-India Mass Base

THE 22nd Congress of the CPI(M) held in Hyderabad discussed how to build a strong party with an all-India mass base  – the goal set out by the Kolkata Plenum on Organisation held in December 2015.  The Political-Organisational Report presented to the Congress reviewed the implementation of the organisational tasks set out by the Plenum.The Plenum had pointed out that the expansion of the Party and its mass base requires the stepping up of the class and mass struggles conducted by the Party and the mass organisations.  There have been serious efforts in this direction. Apart from the all-Ind

Editorial: Aggression on Syria

THE missile strike on Syria by the armed forces of the United States, France and the United Kingdom is the latest instance of imperialist aggression. It is this sort of imperialist intervention that has resulted in the prolonged civil war for the past seven years.Over a hundred missiles were launched from ships and planes targeting three facilities in Damascus and Homs.

Kathua Atrocity: Ominous Portents

A SPATE of rapes of minors in the recent past has led to an eruption of rage, disgust and anguish all over the country.  The details of some of these crimes – the Surat rape and murder of an 11 year old, the rape and murder of a 9 year old whose mutilated body was found in Haryana, for example – are still to be revealed but the Unnao rape of a 17 year old who has named a BJP MLA as the perpetrator, the killing of her father for  which the UP police and the MLA’s brother have been held guilty and sent to jail and the unimaginably brutal rape and murder of an 8 year old child in Jammu have st

West Bengal:Brazen Assault on Democracy

THE three-tier panchayat elections in West Bengal is becoming a farcical exercise due to the unprecedented and shameful attack by the ruling Trinamul Congress to throttle the democratic process at the outset itself.  One has heard of rigging elections by capturing booths, but this is the first time the elections are sought to be rigged by capturing the administrative offices where nominations are filed.From April 2 to 9, the period when nominations were to be filed for the three phase election, West Bengal has witnessed the shameful spectacle of armed Trinamul gangs surrounding the block de

Repression and Violence in Tripura

IT is five weeks since the Tripura election results were declared following which the BJP-IPFT state government was formed.  From the evening of March 3, when the results were announced, a spate of attacks on CPI(M) and Left parties offices, houses of supporters and trade union offices began. Since then, there has been no respite in the attacks by the BJP-RSS gangs.

Uttar Pradesh: Exonerating Communal Rioters

THE expectation that the Yogi Adityanath government of Uttar Pradesh would maintain the rule of law in the state has been futile.  All doubts regarding  this were completely dispelled by the recent announcement by the chief minister that he has initiated action to take back 131 cases that had been filed during the vicious and bloody communal carnage witnessed in Muzaffarnagar and neighbouring districts in 2013.  These include 12 cases of murder, many cases of attempt to murder, dacoity and other heinous crimes.  All the accused belong to the Hindu community and include ministers, MLAs, MPs

Undermining Parliament

EditorialTHE second half of the budget session of parliament has become notable for the manner in which the Modi government has subverted parliamentary norms and procedures.  Since the session began on March 5, there were disruptions in both the houses of parliament on a daily basis.  The main reason for this being the protest launched by the YSR Congress Party and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) which was till then a partner of the ruling NDA on special category status for Andhra Pradesh.  There were other issues such as the Punjab National Bank scam which also agitated the m

Uttar Pradesh Portents

THE BJP has suffered a shock defeat in the two by-elections to the Lok Sabha seats of Gorakhpur and Phulpur. In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, these two seats were won by Yogi Adityanath, now chief minister and Keshav Prasad Maurya, now deputy chief minister with a margin of over 3 lakh votes each. This time around the seats were won by Samajwadi Party candidates who were supported by its arch rival, the BSP.There is no doubt that these results will have significant implications for the future.

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