(Between 23 and 31 March this year, the CPI(ML) held mass rallies and other mass protests in the national capital and in several states demanding a check on price rise, and guarantee of jobs, housing and land reform. A Report.)

Massive Jan-Adhikar Rally In Patna

On March 30, Patna became a veritable sea of red flags, with thousands of poor agricultural labourers, sharecroppers, peasants, women and men from all over Bihar assembling at Gandhi Maidan in CPI(ML)'s Jan Adhikar Rally. The record-breaking participation and mobilisation of the rural poor, defying the blazing sun, was a challenge to the Nitish Government's claims of 'good governance.' In the face of the ruling class consensus across parties against land reforms, the Rally was an assertion of the uncompromising resolve of the rural poor to struggle for implementation of the recommendations of the Land Reforms Commission and secure sharecroppers' rights.

A day before the Rally, ABVP cadres uprooted flags and banners of the Rally – an incident that indicated the discomfort and fear of Bihar's rulers and its most reactionary forces at the mobilisation of the revolutionary Left.

The Rally and mass meeting was presided over by the party's Bihar State Secretary Comrade Nand Kishore Prasad. Jan Sanskriti Manch and Hirawal artists began the meeting with rousing performances of revolutionary folk songs. Among the party leaders present on the dais were PB members Comrades Swadesh Bhattacharya, D P Bakshi, Ramjatan Sharma, and Ramji Rai, as well as many State Committee members and Central Committee members of the party. Party General Secretary Comrade Dipankar's speech and his rousing call to uphold Bihar's legacy of peasant movement and make the forthcoming National Peasant Conference on 10 May a success was met with enthusiastic applause.

The Rally ended with adoption of a 12-point resolution to intensify the struggle against price rise, and for employment and land reform.

March to Parliament in Delhi

On 26th March, thousands of workers, peasants, women, students and youth from Delhi, Punjab and Rajasthan marched from Mandi House to Parliament Street in the national capital, demanding increase in minimum wages, creation of jobs, land reforms, housing for the poor and inclusion of all agricultural workers, workers in unorganised sector and other low-paid occupations and poor peasants in the BPL category.

Hundreds of agricultural workers and peasants from Punjab were participating in the March, who were jailed in large numbers last year for agitating for homestead land and NREGA jobs. This year again, peasant activists were being jailed in hundreds in Punjab, to quell protests against the killing of a peasant leader. Hundreds of unorganised sector workers including rickshaw pullers, street vendors, and security workers from Delhi and NOIDA/Ghaziabad participated in the March.

The March culminated in a mass meeting at Jantar Mantar. The mass meeting was addressed by CPI(ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, Swapan Mukherjee, General Secretary of the AICCTU, Delhi State Secretary Sanjay Sharma, Punjab State Secretary Rajwinder Rana, CCM Prabhat Kumar, Convenor of the All India Kisan Sangharsh Samiti (AIKSS) Rajaram Singh, AIKS leader Ramchandra Kulhari from Rajasthan, Girija Pathak, member of the CPI(ML) State Leading Team of Uttarakhand, and Ravi Rai, General Secretary of AISA. CCM Kavita Krishnan conducted the meeting.

Jan Adhikar Rally at Bhubaneshwar

CPI(ML) held a large rally which marched from Bhubaneswar Railway Station to the State Assembly on 27 March. People from 22 districts of Odisha were present in the rally. Apart from highlighting mass concerns like price rise, BPL, PDS and NREGA, the rally called for an immediate end to Operation Green Hunt, release of all political prisoners, withdrawal of concessions granted to big companies like Posco, Vedanta, Tata and nationalization of the entire mineral sector. Speakers included Comrades Khitish Biswal, Radhakanta Sethi, Ashok Pradhan, Bidyadhar Patra, Satyabadi, Savita and Bidhan and CPI(ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya. Veteran TU leader from Rourkela and AICCTU Vice President Com. NK Mohanty presided over the meeting.

Demonstration at Jharkhand Assembly

In protest against massive price rise, drought, migration, and state repression in the name of Green Hunt, and to demand declaration of the schedule for panchayat elections without further delay, the Jharkhand State Committee of the CPI(ML) organised a Vidhan Sabha March on 27 March in Ranchi. The march began from Hatia Railway Station.

The march ended with a road blockade and mass meeting when the police prevented them from proceeding to the State Assembly. The mass meeting was addressed by State Secretary Janardan Prasad and CCMs Comrades Subhendu Sen, Manoj Bhakt and Bahadur Oraon, MLA from Bagodar Vinod Singh, Comrades Rajkumar Yadav and Devaki Nandan and AISA National President Sandeep Singh among others.

State-wide Demonstrations in West Bengal

"Check Prices, Give Us Jobs" , "Withdraw Operation Green Hunt" -- with these slogans thousands of activists and sympathisers of CPI (ML) took part in various protest actions and courted arrest on March 31. Demonstrations, processions, and effigy burning (of Manmohan, Budhhadev and Chidambaram) were organised in Siliguri (Darjeeling district), Krishnanagar (Nadia district), Chuchura (Hooghly district), Bankura town, Raiganj (North Dinajpur), Gajole (Maldah), Howrah Maidan, Khargram (Murshidabad), Rampurhat (Birbhum), Barasat (North 24 Parganas), Budge Budge and Bishnupur (South 24 Parganas), Kolkata (College Square) and other places.

Mahadharna in Chhattisgarh

CPI(ML) and Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha jointly organised a mahadharna in Raipur on 26 March to protest the exorbitant prices of essential necessities. Hundreds of rural poor from various districts of the State participated in the mahadharna and a memorandum was submitted to the Chief Minister. The mahadharna was addressed by CPI(ML) CCM Com. Rajaram and Comrade Bhimrao Bagade of the CMM among many others.

AIALA Road Blockade in Assam

In continuation of the movement launched by Sadou Asom Gramin Sramik Santha (Assam unit of AIALA), Asom Sangrami Chah Sramik Sangha and Karbi Anglong & N C Hills Kisan Sramik Sabha held a road blockade in different districts of Assam, on 23 March, 2010 to press their longstanding demands. On 21st January, 2010, nearly 5000 rural workers submitted a 11-point mass memorandum to the Governor of Assam at a Rajbhawan March programme. It was a culmination of a mass signature campaign in Assam’s major districts of AIALA’s work.

One of the major demands was a Special Assam Assembly Session to discuss the work of the Rural Development department, but there was no response from the Government. These issues were ignored by the Government even during the ongoing budget session of the Assam Assembly.

The Road blockade was effective at many places. In Tinsukia nearly 500 people gathered to block the main road for an hour. In Dibrugarh district the blockade was held at Lahowal and Tingkhong where nearly 1000 people took part. In Bargang, Behali (Sonitpur district) nearly 2000 agrarian workers and tea workers imposed a road blockade for nearly an hour. In Nagaon the blockade was held at two places - Nagaon town (1200 people) and Jakhalabandha (200 people). In Jorhat 500 people gathered to block the Assam Trunk Road for 45 minutes. In Chandrapur (Kamrup district) 300 people took part in the programme. From Barpeta a memorandum reiterating the demands was sent to the Governor through the DC, Barpeta. In Karbi Anglong district the blockade was held at Bokajan.

Conventions and Rallies at Andhra Pradesh

On 23 March the CPI (ML) Liberation organized a big rally and a convention at Khammam demanding separated statehood for Telangana. Nearly 500 people attended the Convention, including party activists, women, students, lawyers and teachers.

The convention inaugurated by CPI(ML) Liberation District Secretary C K Damodhar. The Convention paid homage to the martyrs of the struggle for separate statehood for Telangana as well as Shaheed Bhagat Singh. The editor of Telugu Liberation Comrade P Sathyanarayana, D Harinadh, state committee member, Shelam Swamy of Nalagonda, M Suguna Rao, lawyer, B Sydhulu representing the teachers forum, K Maleesh of the Telangana Students' Joint Action Committee and M Kailash of AISA and B Venkateswara Rao, DC member addressed the convention. Three resolutions were adopted at the Convention: demanding that the UPA Government present and pass the Telangana Separate Statehood Bill in Parliament immediately; Withdrawal of the paramilitary forces from Osmania University Campus; and withdrawal of all cases booked against the students and employees who participated in the struggle. Protest songs were presented by Pammy, a lawyer, Ravi Babu as well as Himavathi of AIPWA.

On 27th March a convention was held at Vijayawada as a part of political campaign from March 23-31 in which 400 people participated. The theme of the convention was 'Forest Land Grab by Land Lords and Struggle of the Poor for Land'. In Krishna district more than 25000 acres of forest land is illegally occupied mostly by land lords with the help of forest and revenue officials. Instead of vacating the landlords forest officials are harassing the poor. CPI(ML) started a movement long back demanding “vacate landlords from the land immediately, provide that land to the poor”. Recently under leadership of the Party and AIALA 400 hundred people captured 300 acres of the land from 6 landlords. In this backdrop the convention drew much attention. The convention was addressed by State Secretary Comrade N Murthy among others.

A dharna was held at the Collectorate in Visakhapatnam on 29 March in which 100 people participated. Comrade N Murthy addressed the dharna. B Vasudeva Rao, District Secretary along with other comrades submitted a memorandum to the Collector.

Anti-Communal Convention at Karnataka

The Gangavati unit of CPI(ML) organized a convention against communalism on 23 March, the martyrdom day of Bhagat Singh. This is a follow up of the massive rally held on 6 December 2009 demanding the arrest of culprits of Babri Masjid demolition. The convention also passed resolutions against the recently passed Acts by Karnataka Assembly (such as ban on cow slaughter) that have a strong communal bias against Muslim and Christian minorities. Several hundreds of people participated in the convention. Comrade Shankar, Central Committee member presided over the Convention. Vittappa Gorantli, President of ‘Save Koppal Movement’ inaugurated the convention. The Convention was addressed by Dr. V N Lakshminarayana, Aslam from Delhi and VP of AISA, and Comrade Bharadwaj, SLT member of the CPI(ML). Mustafa Kamal Pasha (Hafiz Moulana), the Chief of Jamia Masjid and Allagiri, a journalist, among other guests were present on the occasion. DB Giraddi, a journalist conducted the proceedings.
Bhagat Singh Martydom Day at Rajasthan: A meeting was organised in Jaipur on 23 March to commemorate the martyrdom day of Bhagat Singh, and a similar meeting was also organised at Jhunjhunu.

People's Rights Rally at Puducherry

A massive peoples’ rights rally was held on 31st March 2010 at Puducherry against anti-people policies of UPA as well as the Congress Government of Puducherry. Rallyists demanded roll back of price hike of petroleum products in particular and in general price increase of all essential commodities. They also demanded jobs and houses for all and land reforms in the Union Territory of Puducherry. Com. S Kumarsamy, PB member, Comrade S Balasubramanian, party State Secretary addressed the rallyists, P. Sankaran of AIALA, S Motilal, secretary AICCTU, and P Ravikumar , State Secretary RYA.

The rally started from the old bus stand of Puducherry town and passed through main streets of Puducherry. The Rally culminated in a big demonstration in front of the legislative assembly of Puducherry. A detailed peoples' rights chamber was submitted to the Chief Minister of Puducherry. Hundreds of women participated in the rally.