Bengal’s Left to launch movement against ‘anti-people policies’

Kolkata, Aug 16 (IANS) Protesting against the anti-people policies of the state and the centre, the left wing mass organisations in West Bengal will hold a 24-day march across the state in September, pushing for an eight-point charter of demands including remunerative prices for famers, lowering of rates for Petroleum substances and ensuring standard minimum wages for everyone.

The march christened "Adhikar Yatra" to be held under the banner of 'Bengal Platform of Mass Organisations' (BPMO), will start from the state's Cooch Behar district on September 10 and continue till October 3 aiming to touch 78,000 polling booths across 126 blocks and 127 cities in the state.

The march would culminate with a massive public rally in Kolkata on October 3.

Over 100 mass organisations, including trade unions, peasants' organisations, student-youth-women organisations and representative organisations of different sections of people will participate in the march under the banner of BPMO.

The marchers would also raise demands to protect the rights of tribals and women all over the country, besides stopping all communal and fundamentalist activities, curbing corruption in the educational sector and inclusion of all Indian citizens in the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam.

"Under the current regime, the rights of farmers and trade unions are being throttled, the labour laws are being tampered with and women and tribals in the country are in danger. We have named the march as 'Adhikar Yatra' as nothing is more relevant in the country than the demands to protect people's rights," Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) state President Shamyal Chakraborty told reporters here.

He said the Narendra Modi-led government is not announcing a moratorium on debt recovery to the farmers, as recommended by the Swaminathan Commission (National Commission on Farmers), which is leading to farmers' suicide in the country.

"More than three lakh farmers have committed suicide in India. In Bengal 100 farmers have committed suicide for the same reason though the current Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee does not accept it. Also the steep rise in price of petroleum substances is causing a lot of problems in common man's life. Such issues need to be immediately addressed," he said.

The Left leader said the organisers have set a target to involve close to seven lakh people in the march to be held across 50 thousand km and appealed everyone to take part in it.

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