RWPI Lok Sabha Election Manifesto 2019
Build the independent political position of the working masses in the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections!
Vote for the candidates of Revolutionary Workers’ Party of India!
1. Preamble
Comrades! Friends! Working Brothers and Sisters!
The Seventeenth Lok Sabha elections are round the corner. Like always, all the electoralist parties are busy wooing the voters. We all know that at present, there is no true alternative in front of the working masses of this country which can represent its interests. Today there is no genuine party of the workers and common working masses in which they can repose their trust. This is the reason why around 85 crore workers, working masses, poor peasants and those engaged in small odd occupations, unemployed youth, vote for one or the other bourgeois party in the elections out of desperation. The elections for a broad cross-section of masses has been reduced to a mere means to punish the sins of the incumbent party, even when we know that if the power passes into the hands of any other bourgeois party, it, too, will deceive and betray the poor working masses of this country. However, have the workers and working masses achieved anything in past 7 decades by following this policy of “punishing”? The only difference which is made is that the class of big owners and capitalists loot and plunder us sometimes through the government of Congress or the BJP or some “Third Front”. Whosoever wins the election, it is the people who always lose. Whichever party comes to power, it is the bourgeoisie which rules. Why is it so? Comrades, this is so because today there is no revolutionary party of the workers and working masses in the country and consequently the working masses of this country are forced to follow, vote and tail-end some party of the ruling owner class. We do not have an independent political position. We do not have any political representation. Resultantly, we vote by getting divided on the lines of religion and caste.
What follows is that whichever candidate gets elected takes our votes but serves the interests of the big capitalists, wealthy traders, contractors, middlemen, bureaucrats, super-rich class receiving fat salaries, which cumulatively are referred to as the bourgeoisie. This entire class does not produce anything, does not create anything but whatever is produced and created is controlled by it and 70-80 percent of it all is consumed by it. What is the numerical proportion of this class in the country? Generously speaking, not more than ten percent of the total population. However, more than 70 percent of all resources and wealth is controlled by this class. This is the same class which provides electoral fund to all parties including the BJP, Congress, SP, BSP, Shiv Sena, AAP, JD (U), JD(S), NCP, Trinamool Congress, DMK, AIADMK, Akali Dal, TRS, TDP, CPI (M), CPI etc. Amongst these, a sizeable portion of the donations of sham left parties also comes from employees working in the organized sector, rich peasantry, middle traders and owners. However, a large section of these classes, too, has today become beneficiaries of the capitalist system, though the sword of uncertainty and destruction ever-dangling over its head makes it insecure and distressed. These so-called communist parties, owing to the hold of their central trade union federations on the workers in the organized sector enterprises, mobilize a sizeable chunk of their economic resources from there as well. However, in reality these parliamentary left parties at most represent the class interests of middle and upper sections of employees in the organized sector, middle and rich peasantry, small traders and entrepreneurs; and instead of putting an end to the loot and pillage of the big bourgeoisie, merely advocate its regulation and control, which is not possible.
This is the reason why all present parties represent the class interests of one or the other section of the capitalist class and also the reason why despite taking the votes of workers and working masses, they serve the interests of the bourgeoisie. Precisely because of this reason the workers and the common working masses have come together to form a new party. The name of the party is — Revolutionary Workers’ Party of India (RWPI). What is this party, why do we need such a party, how can we ensure that this party will always truly represent the interests of the working class and the working masses, we will come back to these questions later. First, let us cast a glance at the current political situation in the country, so that the requirements and tasks of the present can be understood correspondingly.
2. The Current Political Situation in India
The Bhartiya Janta Party Government in the past five years has failed miserably to provide even the basic rights of employment, education and housing to the people of this country. This is why the Modi Government is now resorting to two measures in order to win the elections — firstly, creating war hysteria and secondly, manufacturing religious frenzy. Measures, such as, demonitization and the GST have caused loss of 1 crore 10 lakh jobs to the working people in the last five years. On the other hand, owing to the anti-Dalit policies of this government, there has been an unprecedented spike in the incidents of anti-Dalit atrocities. The modest and limited benefit which was available to an extremely small section of the Dalit working masses under the reservation, is being snatched away through the 13-point roster scheme and the attempts to defer this measure under electoral compulsions is only a ploy to hoodwink the masses. Because of the recent policy of the government and the judgment of the Supreme Court, almost 11 lakh tribals are being forcibly evicted from their land, water and forests (jal-jungle-zameen). On the other hand, the present Government is providing all opportunities to the capitalists of big industrial houses like Ambani, Adani, Tata, Birla etc. to plunder and exploit all the wealth and resources of the country. Every year, 70,000 crore rupees are squandered away in giving tax relief and doling out free electricity, water and land to these capitalists. Had this amount been spent on providing facilities of education, health and housing, lakhs of jobs would have been generated. Even those who are employed are either being forced to work on contract basis or exploited in form of daily-wage or casual workers. This population includes not only the 25 crore urban workers but also comprises of school and university teachers, doctors, nurses etc. Earlier too, labour laws were only nominally effectual, however, by introducing reforms in them, the Modi Government has given freeway to child labour and unfree labour (begar) in the name of apprentice, trainee work etc. The post of factory inspector, too, is being done away with so that even the minimal trifling hurdle these labour laws cause to the profiteering of the capitalists, too, is removed.
All kinds of barriers in the way of profit-mongering of international and indigenous capital are being put to an end so that the workers and common working masses are made to slog like slaves. The existing contract system is nothing else but modern system of slavery. The Modi Government has given unprecedented impetus to the policies of Privatization, Liberalization and Globalization. The effects of these policies are clearly visible on the rural workers and semi-proletarian population too. The capitalist crisis of agriculture, particularly after the coming to power of the Modi Government, has fast displaced the broad cross-section of small peasantry and farm workers under the pressure of debt and market competition and has forced them to move to cities and other states in search of employment. On top of it, the Modi Government is playing a dirty joke with these poor peasants by handing them six thousand rupees annually. There is no legal framework to ensure the social and economic security for rural workers. Consequently, there are no rules-regulations to bridle their backbreaking exploitation by the rich kulaks and farmers. The Modi Government of BJP and the entire Sangh Parivar standing behind it are working hard in their unholy bid to throw the country into the fire of war and riots so that the people are not united, mobilized and organized against these policies generating poverty, unemployment and price-rise. Attempts are being made to fan the communal hatred in the name of cow-slaughter, Ghar Wapasi, ‘Love Jihad’, Ram Temple so that the attention of the masses is diverted from the real issues and they vote by getting swayed under the influence of caste, religion and the frenzy of jingoism. These misdeeds have completely exposed the real character of BJP, Sangh Parivaar and Narendra Modi Government in past five years.
However, the pro-capital economic policies implemented by the Modi Government which have broken all the previously held records, were in fact inaugurated not by the BJP Government but rather by the Congress in 1991, when P.V.Narasimha Rao was the Prime Minister and Manmohan Singh was the Finance Minister. This was the same government which started off the trend of selling the public property, i.e., the companies, corporations etc. of the public sector for pennies to the likes of Tata, Birla, Ambani etc. and foreign companies. These were the same policies which led to the unfolding of ruination and dispossessing of workers, handicraftsmen, small peasantry, and working masses engaged in small-time occupations on a massive scale. The Congress has been following a dual policy on the issue of communalism, too, which has caused, not surprisingly, the burgeoning of communal fascist demon. Owing to the politics of vote bank, the Congress, too, had put soft kesariya politics into practice to confront the aggressive communal propaganda of the BJP and the Sangh Parivaar which eventually only benefited the latter. Beating the drum of secularism, the Congress has always assumed a defensive stance vis-à-vis not only Hindutva fundamentalists but Islamic fundamentalists as well and has time and again surrendered in front of them. Right from the Shah Bano case to opening the locks of Ram Temple, all these acts of the Congress have demonstrated this very policy. As a matter of fact, it is the compulsion of the Congress, owing to its being a reactionary centrist bourgeois party, to follow such a policy and it will continue to do so in future as well. This is the reason why the new Congress Government in Madhya Pradesh slapped cases against several innocent youth in the name of cow protection and in Rajasthan too, many steps are being taken to appease the Hindu votes.
As far as the question of economic policy is concerned, the Congress, too, is totally in favour of the same policies of Privatization, Liberalization and Globalization, the brunt of the implementation for 30 years of which is today being borne by the poor workers, working masses, small peasantry, toiling population engaged in small odd occupations, youth from common households, Dalits, women and religious minorities. The only difference is that the Congress while implementing these policies put up a little masquerade of welfare policies and reformism whereas the BJP, being a quintessential fascist dictatorial party does not indulge in any welfarism and reformism. It openly and brazenly serves the capitalists and suppresses any resistance and opposition with far greater ferocity and brutality. However, both these national parties represent the interests of indigenous and foreign capital, that is to say, the interests of big indigenous and foreign companies. This big capitalist class, according to its changing needs, lends its principal support sometimes to the Congress and at other times to the BJP. Today this class is putting its weight behind the fascist BJP because owing to the economic crisis, i.e., the recession which originated in the USA in 2008 and arrived in countries like India by 2010-11, the bourgeoisie throughout the world are in the need of fascist or other kind of dictatorial and reactionary regimes. This is the reason why fascists or right-wing reactionaries like Narendra Modi came to power not only in India but also in other countries such as Brazil, Philippines, Turkey, etc. Their purpose is to put the entire burden of the crisis born out of the capitalist overproduction, that is to say, the crisis of falling rate of profit, on the working class and the working masses, which means decreasing the average wages of the workers-working masses and increasing the profit of the capitalists by dismantling labour laws, by putting an end even to their nominal implementation and by giving free run to child labour, unfree labour and contractualization. The BJP has been doing the same in its five year rule.
Besides these two big national parties, if we talk about other smaller national parties or regional parties, then they, too, are serving the interests of the bourgeoisie, though of its relatively less powerful factions. For instance, the Samajwadi Party represents the small capitalist class born within the backward castes, rich and middle peasantry, urban middle and upper middle class and rich and upper middle classes present among the religious minorities in Uttar Pradesh and some other states. Most of the funds of this party come from these classes. If we talk about the Bahujan Samaj Party, then it represents the interests of the ruling class and well-to-do middle class born within the Dalit population and the middle class born within the extremely backward castes. Moreover, while speaking about social justice, it is now advocating reservation for upper castes as well just for power. This rank opportunism is the hallmark of this party. For instance, it has no qualms in joining hands for power with even Bhartiya Janta Party, a party constituted by the classes which are known for committing atrocities against Dalits and so-called other lower castes and are pillars of Brahamnical ideology. This Party reaps the votes of common Dalit masses in the name of identity politics, who walking behind and trailing the elites of their own caste, go against their own class interests and hence vote for it. The Rashtriya Janata Dal, too, represents the interests of a small ruling class and middle class particularly born within the Yadavs, religious minorities and Dalits.
The same is the situation with other regional and small parties such as JD (U), JD (S), NCP, DMK, AIADMK, TDP etc. The state or states in which these parties hold sway, they generally represent the rich or well-to-do farmers coming from middle or backward castes or/and Dalit castes, middle or big entrepreneurs, contractors, builders, dealers since their economic resources mainly come from these classes. They also serve the big corporate capitalist class and take donations and funds from them too, however, they also bargain with the big bourgeoisie vis-à-vis the interests of those classes which they primarily represent, that is to say, the ruling class, upper class and middle class born within the middle, backward and Dalit castes. These parties, in no way, represent the interests of the workers, working masses and poor peasantry, though a significant section of working masses among middle, backward and Dalit castes votes for these regional and small parties in many states because the elites in their caste vote for them and they believe that these parties are in fact the “party of their caste” or represent their “caste interests”. This is owing to the absence of class consciousness and awareness towards one’s class interests and lack of any revolutionary alternative, that is to say, a genuine party of workers and working masses.
If we talk about the parliamentary Left, i.e., sham communist parties such as Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, etc. we find that these parties though speak about the working class, but in reality serve the class of small owners, small entrepreneurs, small traders, big and middle peasantry and an extremely small section of the workers, that is to say, permanent employees employed in the organized sector. Besides, wherever the Left Front (mainly CPM and CPI) has been in power, there they did not leave any stone unturned to serve the big capitalist class as well. In their previous government in West Bengal, they brutally attacked the interests of the workers, poor peasantry and tribals and ferociously crushed their resistance so that the Tata Nano car factory could be installed. This so-called “communist government” did the same with tribals and poor peasants in Lalgarh and the poor peasants in Nandigram. Their Chief Minister administering advice to the workers has gone on record to say that the era of strikes etc. against the capitalists is over and the present age is one of “joining hands” with them. Workers and owners can never join hands. There is a contract between the two under which the worker is obligated to sell his/her labour power to the owner, since the latter owns the factories, mines etc. and the owner, exploiting the worker’s labour power undertakes production, earns profit and in return pays him/her wages for bare maintenance. What sort of friendship can be struck between two such classes? However, these so-called Communist parties are today instructing workers on class collaboration with the owners. Even when they gather some courage to speak up against the big, corporate capitalist class, they do so only because they represent the small capitalist class, traders and entrepreneurial class and are troubled by the thought that if the unbridled loot of the big bourgeoisie is not reined in, the broad cross-section of the workers and working masses will be driven to revolt and this will disrupt “industrial peace” and production.
That is why the leaders of these parties furtively chant incantations of restraint in loot and plunder to the Central Government and the big bourgeoisie, whereas the real fight is for the radical destruction of the system in which the 84 crore strong productive class has no means of production and those who do not even make a needle, have the ownership of all the factories-industries, mines and land to themselves. The CPI(ML) Liberation, too, is a pseudo communist party like CPI and CPM, which has betrayed the cause of the working class and having left the revolutionary path has become parliamentarist. It, too, represents the interests of the same classes which the CPI and CPM represent. It employs comparatively radical rhetoric, however, there is hardly anyone who can match it in rank opportunism. Despite representing the interests of the small capitalist class, small traders, small entrepreneurs, rich and middle peasantry and permanent employees of the organized sector, a section of common workers and working masses, too, vote for these parliamentarist left parties, which, besides the lack of alternative can also be attributed to the stranglehold these parties have created on a section of the working class movement through their reformist, economist and renegade central trade unions.
During the past 7 years, a new party has emerged on the scene of bourgeois politics in India by the name of Aam Aadmi Party or AAP, regarding whom we, the workers and working masses must make our understanding clear. The specialty of this party was that in its maiden manifesto it went on to make promises to all classes. It promised the working class that it would abolish the contract system, fill more than 55,000 vacant posts under the Delhi Government, implement the labour laws, regularize all the non-permanent teachers as well as non-permanent bus drivers and conductors, generate 8 lakh new jobs; it promised the traders and small factory owners that it would do away with the pressure of sales tax on them, put an end to the raids by the Excise Department, scrap the “oppression” suffered by them at the hands of labour inspectors and factory inspectors, remove all the hurdles (read labour laws and tax laws) in starting and doing business; it promised the middle class and lower middle class of Delhi that it would build 20 new colleges and 500 new schools in Delhi, halve the electricity bills, make water free of cost, provide free WiFi facility, etc. However, of all these promises, the Aam Aadmi Party Government totally went back on all the promises it had made to the workers and common working masses of Delhi. Only the minimum wage was increased since it is not applicable in almost 98 percent of factories in Delhi! Quite evidently, if a party promises the small and middle capitalists that all the impediments, mainly the “impediments” of labour laws and excise laws, in establishing and running the business would be done away with, and at the same time promises the working class that contract system would be abolished and labour laws would be implemented, then only one of the two can be fulfilled! The Kejriwal Government kept most of the promises it made to the small capitalists and traders, for instance, the raids by the Sales Tax Department ceased, instituting new factories has been made easy, implementation of labour laws has been made deliberately lax and slapshod. And why will not this be so? Many leaders and ministers of Aam Aadmi Party such as Vikas Goyal, Girish Soni etc. have got their own factories running in Delhi and hordes of traders, small and middle owners, property dealers, middlemen etc. flock the party leadership.
The details of the sources of fundsreceived by some major national and regional parties are as follows: The BJP received a total of Rs.1034.27 crore as party fund. The largest share of it came from Prudent Electoral Trust which was earlier known as Satya Electoral Trust. This trust was formed by the owner of Airtel right ahead of 2014 elections and it collected funds from dozens of big companies and gave it to BJP. These companies included DLF, Torrent Power, Essar, Hero, Aditya Birla Group etc. It donated more than 90 percent of its entire fund to the BJP. From the remaining part, it gave electoral fund to the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, Shiromani Akali Dal, Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal. Apart from this, the AB Electoral Trust, belonging to Aditya Birla donated generously to the BJP fund. Besides these, the capitalists who offered enormous funds to the BJP include Cadilla Healthcare, Micro Labs, Cipla Limited, Mahavir Electricals etc. More than 95 percent of the total funds received by the BJP came from the capitalist houses and big companies.
The Congress received far less funds than the BJP, that is to say, around 200 crores. However, this fund, too, came mainly from the capitalist houses. At present, the capitalist houses have given massive funds to the BJP because the kind of free run at loot and plunder the Modi Government has offered to these capitalist houses is unprecedented and the attempts which have been made to brutally suppress the peoples’ movements, too, has been unprecedented. This is the reason why the Congress has received five times lesser funds than the BJP, a fact which it is often seen lamenting about. However, whatever funds the Congress has received, these, too, have mostly come from big companies and their electoral trusts. The Prudent (Satya) Electoral Trust, Triumph Electoral Trust, Nirma Limited, Aditya Birla Electoral Trust, Zydus Healthcare, Gayatri Projects are some of the major companies and their electoral trusts which contributed to the Congress fund. Around 90-95 percent of the Congress fund, too, came from the big capitalists. The Aam Aadmi Party received a total of around Rs. 25 crore as funds in year 2016-17.The biggest chunk of this came from the same Satya or Prudent Electoral Trust, about which we have discussed above. Apart from this, TDI Infratech, IBC Knowledge Park, Allegro Corporate Finance, PAR Computer Science International, Indian Freightways, Ralson India Limited as well as many middle and small entrepreneurs such as Sonam Saraf, Vaqil Housng Development Corporation, Indian Designs Export etc. gave crores and lakhs of funds to the Aam Aadmi Party. The Communist Party of India received a total fund of approximately Rs.1,15,00,000. A sizeable portion of it came from the state councils in various states which have mostly small entrepreneurs as contributors and who often hold posts in the party as well. Besides, various organizations of minority entrepreneurs have contributed to CPI fund. However, largely these funds have come from petty bourgeoisie, small entrepreneurs, traders and secular, progressive urban middle class and upper middle class alarmed and frightened by the rise of communal fascism. A portion of their funding certainly comes from the network of their trade union, AITUC, which enjoys considerable influence among bank and insurance employees, postal and telegraph employees etc. This is the section of the working class which can broadly be referred to as labour aristocracy.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) received a total of around 2 crore 76 lakh rupees as electoral fund in the year 2017-18. This includes, besides the fund contributed by its party leaders which comes in the form of donations made by well-to-do middle class, small entrepreneurs, small traders, elite middle class, the funds given by various small companies such as Sematti Textile, Brilliant Study Centre, EKK Construction, Vellappali Brothers, Josco Jewellers, Assets Homes, Kosamattam Finance, JJ Holiday, Hotel Excaliber, SBB &Clay Products, SriBalaji Residency, Balaji Engineering Services etc. Its central trade union, CITU, too, has given funds to the party collected from its employee members in public enterprises.
The Bahujan Samaj Party has declared for past few years that it does not accept more than Rs.20,000 in funds from anyone. However, it has received around Rs. 52 crore as funds in past one year. A substantial part of this has come from Dalit bureaucrats, officers, small entrepreneurs, builders, traders, businessmen from Dalit and other backward castes. One cannot know who these donors are as it is not mandatory for the parties to make public the names of those who have made contributions of Rs.20,000 or less. However, the principal donor class of BSP is the above mentioned.
The Samajwadi Party has received approximately Rs.7 crore as funds in the year 2017-18. The contributors include Satya Electoral Trust (Airtel and others), General Electoral Trust (Birla), Progressive Electoral Trust (Tata), ITC Limited along with various small capitalists and rich Kulaks-farmers. A look at the entire list of its donors reveals that this party, too, represents, besides, one lobby of big capitalists, the class of small capitalists, traders, rich farmers, contractor companies, small and middle entrepreneurs from religious minority etc.
These are only few examples. If you look at the sources of the funds of other national parties or big regional parties, you will find that they, too, receive funds from one or the other section of the capitalist class — for instance, big corporate capitalist class, small and middle capitalist class, rural bourgeoisie, that is to say, rich kulaks-farmers, rich, middle and small trading class, affluent urban upper-middle class, be it then Nationalist Congress Party, Trinamool Congress, Biju Janata Dal, JD (U), JD (S), RJD, INLD, DMK or AIADMK. More than 90 percent of their funds come from one of the sections of the capitalist class or the petty bourgeoisie. The electoral trusts of a few big companies make hefty donations to all big national and regional parties. Needless to say, besides these declared funds, a massive sum of money as well as aircrafts, helicopters, vehicles, houses etc. are provided by the capitalists to these parties in an undeclared fashion. These parties contest elections only on the strength of this. The second source is the wealth and property of the candidates themselves. This is the reason why 82 percent parliamentarians in present the Lok Sabha are themselves millionaires. That is to say, these parliamentarians are themselves big, middle or small capitalists and all of them possess massive capital and property which clearly makes them the part of the active exploiting class in the society.
Now we want to ask you: can these parties running on the funds and resources of the capitalists and run by the capitalists themselves represent the interests of the workers, toiling masses, poor peasants, unemployed youth and lower middle class, that is to say, the interests of the common working masses? Even to think of this is to deceive ourselves. Certainly, they will come to us for votes. However, after coming to power and getting elected to parliament they cannot represent our interests as economically as well as socially they are sustained by the resources of the bourgeoisie and the petty bourgeoisie and leaders hailing from these same classes. Therefore, we need such a new party which runs on the resources of the working masses, which functions under the collective leadership of the vanguards from the working masses and leaders tempered and matured in the struggles of the working masses, who have politically chosen the side of the toiling classes and have proved their partisanship in the crucible of peoples’ struggles. Only such a party can fight for the interests of the common working masses and can achieve not only the ultimate aim of socialism through revolutionary path, but can also safeguard utmost the interests of the workers and working masses within the elections in the present capitalist system. The Revolutionary Workers’ Party of India has been established with this intent and objective.
At present, the communal fascist Bhartiya Janta Party is in power. To cover up its failures of past five years and having been exposed for licking the boots of the capitalists as well as being sunk into the quagmire of corruption, it is now trying to whip up war hysteria right ahead of the elections. Just like before other elections, this time, too, ahead of elections, a terrorist attack happened! Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in 1999, the Kargil war happened, in 2001, ahead of the assembly polls in seven states, the Parliament attack happened, ahead of the last Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uri attack happened and now ahead of the seventeenth Lok Sabha elections, Pulwama attach happened! Does not this question arise in your mind that why before every election, a terrorist attack takes place, especially whenever BJP is in power? Does not this give rise to suspicion that why ahead of every election, there is tension at the border? Why is the Modi Government maintaining stoic silence on the questions pertaining to the Pulwama attack? Why the clamour for sedition and weakening the ‘morale of the army’ is raised whenever a question is asked? Why the family members of the soldiers from common households who lost their lives in the Pulwama attack are branded anti-national when they, too, demand evidence of the terrorists killed in the Balakot “surgical strike”? Do not all these questions raise doubts in your head? It is quite evident that Modi and his government, adept at telling lies, is machinating to kindle war frenzy based on these fabrications and falsehoods so that it can wade through the elections. When stirring up the frenzy in name of the temple did not pay any dividends, the war-hysteria card is being played. However, the people of the country are not going to get anything out of such a war. The sons and daughters of the poor peasants and workers on both sides of the border will pay the price of the politics played out on both sides by the ruling class. Our enemy is not working masses of Pakistan, but the ruling class of our country.
When you demand right to life, who is it that comes to suppress your voice? When you demand minimum wages, who orders the lathi-charge on you? When you demand the right to employment guarantee act, who turns a blind eye to you? When you demand free healthcare, state housing at concessional rates, right to free and equal education to all, who is it that represses you? In a nutshell, whenever you fight for any of your just and fair rights, it is not Pakistan, but rather the capitalist ruling class of this country and its government which suppresses and crushes your demands. Our real enemies are these profit-mongers and plunderers of our country, whose one or the other gang is being represented by all the present bourgeois electoralist parties, which we have already discussed above.
The Rafale scam, demonitization scam, Vyapam scam, aiding those who have embezzled the public money to escape, NPA scam, Crop Insurance scam and other scams have completely laid bare the true character and countenance of the BJP Government and the Sangh Parivaar. In fact, the BJP Government has created new records in scams and corruption. In order to divert the public attention from all these issues, the BJP Government is trying to foment war hysteria and jingoism.
The BJP and the Sangh Parivaar have systematically instituted fascists in various institutions of the bourgeois democracy such as the Election Commission, Judiciary, CAG etc. and have internally rendered these institutions hollow. The entire country is astonished at the judgments of the Supreme Court on Rafale deal to the Ram Temple issue. The Election Commission is acting like the election department of the BJP, on which the opposition parties, too, are raising questions. This, too, is the characteristic of the present-day fascism in which formally the institutions of the bourgeois democracy remain, however, these become hollow from inside. The Revolutionary Workers’ Party of India is committed to make this entire situation clear in front of the masses and fight against it.
Somewhat same scenario is prevailing in various educational and research institutions of the country where, too, the BJP Government has systematically installed its people. These institutions are being killed by systematically depriving them of the finances. The little democratic space still available in various universities is being curbed so that each and every voice of dissent is stifled. The student-youth movement in JNU, TISS, HCU, BHU, DU etc. is being crushed in a deliberate well-thought out fashion by the Sangh Parivaar. This is because the student-youth movements have always been the recruitment-centres for working class and progressive movements in the country. The current fascist dispensation intends to destroy these recruitment centres so that the voice for justice and equality is throttled even before it is raised.
3. The Present Socio-economic Situation of the Country: A Brief Picture
The unemployment in our country has reached an unprecedented level today. The unemployment rate has increased to 7.2 percent in February 2019. This is the highest unemployment rate in the last five decades. However, the truth is that this official government figure does not even demonstrate the real frightful picture of unemployment prevailing today. Since there is no provision for unemployment allowance or employment guarantee in our country, therefore, even such unemployed persons are counted as employed, who, because of unemployment, engage in odd jobs for living such as vending stuff on carts, selling small things on footpath, looking for work at labour squares, selling fritters or cigarettes-paan, washing cars etc. Not all unemployed commit suicide or turn criminals. They do something for survival and somehow make a living. Should they be considered employed? No! They all come under the category of unemployed and had there been a proper system of employment security in the country, there accurate numbers could have become evident. But the government hides them under the figures and data by employing categories such as ‘self-employed’ and ‘own account entrepreneur’. If these numbers are added then we find that actual figure of unemployed has reached between 27 to 30 crores in the country. If we look at the participation of women in workforce, then a considerable population amongst them must be enumerated as unemployed in both villages and cities. This too, is a kind of hidden unemployment. The issue of unemployment is the most important issue for the workers, poor peasants, common working masses and youth of this country. The struggle for the right to work cannot advance forward till the right to work is included as a fundamental right in the constitution through constitutional amendment and till the time the government does not enact a law for employment guarantee and is compelled to shoulder the responsibility of providing employment to every individual capable of working. This is the demand which belongs to all sections of the working masses, be it workers, poor peasants or the lower middle class.
Today there is more than 60 crore strong proletariat in our country, out of which more than 22 crore are urban. A significant section of the working population in the villages is engaged in non-agrarian occupations, be it in industry, service sector or self-employment in odd jobs. Only 6 percent of this entire urban and rural population has permanent employment and enjoys basic labour rights such as minimum wages, 8-hour workday etc. The remaining 94 percent of this population works for at least 9-11 hours daily for an average of Rs.7000-9000 per month. It neither gets an 8-hour workday nor weekly off, ESI-PF, social security benefits and voluntary and double-rate overtime. As far as the political rights are concerned, 94 percent of the workers do not usually even have the right to unionize and wherever this right is formally available, the labour department there does not register their unions. This proletarian population constitutes the biggest chunk of the entire working masses and it does not possess any land of its own or else owns a nominal piece of land on which it cannot do farming itself since it does not have sufficient capital necessary for farming. Consequently, it leases out this nominal land and either migrates to cities or works elsewhere on big farms as wage labour. This is the most revolutionary class in the country which has nothing to lose and a world to win. This is the class which can lead the broad cross-section of working masses in the revolutionary transformation in the country and therefore must organize itself in its own revolutionary party for the same.
The total number of farms in the country is around 14 crore. 86 percent of these are less than 2 hectares in size. That is to say, out of the total peasantry which owns any size of land, 86 percent are very small and poor peasants who own less than 2 hectares of land. However, these 86 percent peasants own only around 43 percent of total land in the country. This means that merely 14 percent of the peasants own 57 percent of land. In other words, a significant portion of land is owned by the big peasantry, which is extremely miniscule in number. On the other hand, 86 percent of the extensive peasant population is so impoverished that it has to either work on the farms of other rich peasants or work in the urban centres as wage labour. In fact, this population can be referred to as semi-proletariat and it is the nearest ally of the proletariat in the villages. What should be its most basic demands? Firstly, nationalization of the entire land; secondly, collectivization and statization of all big farms; thirdly, right to work, that is to say, employment guarantee. Only these are the three demands that can extricate the life of the poor peasantry from the pit of poverty, misfortune, malnutrition and starvation. The poor peasants and farm workers must build their separate organizations from those of rich peasants and Kulaks to achieve this. The Revolutionary Workers’ Party of India is resolved to accomplish this task.
The situation of the education is worsening by the day in our country. Merely 7 percent of those who have passed the twelfth standard reach the stage of higher education. While only 70 out of 100 kids reach the senior school. Though the literacy rate in India is said to be touching 74 percent, but if we look at the numbers of those who have not been able to finish their school education, then the actual educated population becomes extremely low in India. If we talk about the Dalit and tribal students, then we find that merely 61 to 65 percent of them reach the level of senior school. In our country, the bulk of population does not get the right to study in their mother tongue. Most of the private schools are English medium schools. There is a hierarchy present in the government-run schools as well and almost all quality government schools are English medium where restrictions are imposed on even speaking in one’s own mother tongue. The Hindi medium and other language schools which are there receive deliberate step-motherly treatment because of which their standard deteriorates. Studying in these schools means nothing. Consequently, the right to think, converse, express and dream in one’s own language is snatched from the common masses of the country. If we talk about the higher education, the same situation is prevailing there. All the quality study material is available in English and the universities either do not have enough funds to get these translated in the mother tongue or even if they have funds, they do not get the translations done. Because of being deprived of the right to think, write and read in our own language, our country is not able to produce original, inventive and pioneering research and innovation in the fields of science, mathematics, technology, social sciences etc. and instead of scientists, mathematicians, social scientists etc., is producing clerks of science, clerks of mathematics, clerks of social sciences etc. This is akin to dragging an entire country backwards. We demand that each and every individual should get free and equal education and everyone should have the right to be instructed in their mother tongue. No language should be accorded the status of the state language.
The oppression of women cannot be abolished in any profit-centric system. In our relatively backward capitalist country, this repression, oppression and exploitation has taken the most brutal and barbaric forms. The number of survivors of rape and acid attacks as well as dowry deaths is the highest in our country. Most incidents of domestic violence, too, are reported here. As far as crimes against women are concerned, India stands at the top of the list. The number of women in the workforce is declining. This does not mean that women are working less than before. On the contrary, it means that women are working more in the domestic, unorganized, cottage industry etc. like sectors which are not enumerated and taken into account. These are the sectors which are least paid and most exploitative and back-breaking. Besides, the government apparatus is unable to count and categorize them. This gives the impression that the number of working women is dwindling, however, the truth is that the capitalists in our country have forced the women to be employed in the slavery like tasks of the worst, most grueling, monotonous and less paying kind so that the relentless inhuman exploitation and loot of their labour can be continued. Wherever women workers are engaged in the same tasks as male workers, there, too, they do not get equal wages for equal work. The capitalism makes most of the vulnerable condition of the women in society and endorses as well as strengthens the patriarchal ideology, which has an effect on the working class as well. Consequently, women have to undergo the patriarchal slavery within the households too. The male workers must understand that as long as they confine half of the population, that is to say, the working class women, within the household servitude, they, too, are accursed and doomed till that time to carry on with the slavery of capitalists and owners. All kinds of religious fundamentalism legitimizes and reinforces in the most undisguised and blatant form every kind of enslavement and subjugation of women. At the same time, the women workers must understand that while on the one hand, they have to fight an antagonistic battle against the capitalist slavery, on the other hand, they have to engage in a struggle for freedom within the households and out on the streets as well, not against an enemy, but rather with the man who himself is enslaved by capital. The fight for the emancipation of women is essential for the liberation of the working class and the common working masses, and full emancipation of women from patriarchy is possible only in a socialist system. The Revolutionary Workers’ Party of India believes in the equality between men and women and is of the firm opinion that without fighting for this equality, the liberation of the working class is not possible and is thus committed to militantly and radically wage this fight.
The condition of Dalits and tribals, too, is quite abysmal. The less said, the better. Even after several decades of implementation of the policy of reservation, 71 percent of total rural Dalit population is either landless farm labour or rural labour. In agriculture, 48 percent of total landless population is Dalit. The average income of Dalit population is 37 percent less than non-Dalit population in villages and it is 60 percent in cities. This demonstrates that still today the caste system has an influence on the relations of production and distribution. Even today the Dalit population has to encounter caste-based oppression and humiliation. In the seven decades after Independence, the system of Untouchability and traditional occupations has considerably weakened, though not completely abolished yet, however, the system of endogamous marriages still prevails and the relations of collective messing and mutual marriages are still few and far between. Following the coming to power of the BJP Government, the atrocities by the upper and upper-middle class of the upper castes and incidents of anti-Dalit oppression have seen an unprecedented surge. There is a clear class character of the incidents of oppression and humiliation. If we look at the figures, then it is the working class and common toiling Dalit population who are at the receiving end of anti-Dalit oppression and humiliation in 99 out of every 100 cases, whose social condition is feeble owing to the economic reasons. The upper middle class and middle class among the Dalit population, too, suffer caste-based humiliation owing to their vulnerable social position; however, this section among the Dalits is not ready to fight on streets against this humiliation as it has turned into the beneficiary of this system. Consequently, the class based anti-caste movement built on the unity of workers and working masses possesses the strength to fight on each and every incident of caste-based humiliation as well. The Revolutionary Workers’ Party of India is committed to wage militant struggle against caste-based oppression, discrimination and humiliation and believes that annihilation of caste can be accomplished only with the establishment of a classless society whose first stage would be the socialist system.
In India, various nationalities, especially in Kashmir and states of North-East, are being oppressed with utmost barbarity. The armed forces have been given a free hand in form of draconian AFSPA in these states. This has caused barbaric repression and oppression of common people there. This has further led to the strengthening of the sense of alienation among these nationalities. Quite evidently, the unity of the common masses of different nationalities and the unity of their common state can only be established voluntarily and not on the basis of coercion and pressure. In such a scenario, demilitarization of all these states should be undertaken immediately and the nationalities there should be granted unconditional right to self-determination including the right to secession.
Especially after coming to power of the Modi Government, an atmosphere of fear and insecurity has been created for the religious minorities which perhaps never existed before. This is because every fascist regime needs an imaginary enemy for the reactionary social movement standing behind it, which can be held responsible for the problems generated by the capitalism and the capitalist class. The BJP and the Sangh Parivaar erects the Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and other religious minorities as a false enemy in front of the broad cross-sections of the petty bourgeoisie, which itself is upset at the insecurity and uncertainty of its own existence and because of not comprehending the real reasons behind this, lives in blind reaction. Therefore, the religious minorities are blamed for everything from unemployment, poverty, price-hike to terrorism and threat to national security. Besides, the fascist leader is established as the sole representative of the religious majority community. Being against this leader is made synonymous to be against the country, the nation and the religious majority. Precisely this has happened in the five years of the Modi rule. We must clarify this situation in front of the masses and make them aware of the fact that how the present capitalist system is responsible for the troubles of their lives and not any particular community. The Revolutionary Workers’ Party of India is pledge-bound to create class-based unity among the common working masses of all religious communities as well as to foil and defeat the fascist conspiracy and attacks on the basis of this class unity.
4. Why is the Revolutionary Workers’ Party of India amongst you?
Friends! We have tried to present the existing picture of the country in last few pages. One thing is clear from this description that in a profit-centric system, where entire production and its exchange is not aimed at fulfilling social needs but is carried out keeping in mind the profit of handful of profit-mongers, poverty, unemployment, malnutrition, starvation, illiteracy are inevitable products of such a system. In such an anarchic system, the warehouses are overflowing with grains while the workers die of starvation; the apparel manufacturers, responding to overproduction, burn down the clothes while the poor die naked shuddering in cold on the footpaths; crores of houses and apartments lie vacant while 18 crore have no roof to live under. This anarchic system, on the one end, creates abundance of things which cannot be sold at profit and on the other end, creates huge ocean of malnourished working masses. In such a system, democracy in political system is for those who come from the bourgeoisie, petty bourgeoisie, rich peasantry, contractors, middlemen, bureaucrats and upper middle class. As one goes down in social class hierarchy, the democratic rights, too, become sparse. The entire system of elections is so constructed that only the candidates from upper class or supported by upper class are most likely to contest and win. All the electoralist parties run on the funds given by the capitalist class and big companies and after forming government and going to the parliament, state assemblies and municipalities, they serve these classes only, as has been described in detail above. There is no party of the working class and the working masses which represents their class interests in true sense. There is no such party which can represent the class interests of workers and the working masses, which is built on the resources of the working masses and is constituted under the leadership of those who have matured in the heat of their political struggles.
The Revolutionary Workers’ Party of India is such a party which has been built by the workers, workers’ organizers and the political organizers of the working class in the heat of the movements. It is an independent political party of the working class which has been constituted by the vanguard elements of the working class themselves. This party is the advanced detachment of the proletariat and is committed to play the role of the leading core of the entire working masses.
The Revolutionary Workers’ Party of India functions on the resources given by the individuals from the working class and common working masses themselves and it does not take any kind of fund or contributions from any of the indigenous or foreign companies, capitalist houses, government, NGOs, funding agencies, electoral trusts or other bourgeois electoralist parties. We do not consider it an economic question but rather a political question because only a party which runs on the economic resources of the workers and working masses can represent the class interests of the workers and common working classes in the true sense.
Because of the above stated reasons, the Revolutionary Workers’ Party of India is the independent political position of the working class and it represents the interests of the workers and common working masses in all socio-economic spheres including the elections. It is the concrete form of the working class and its revolutionary ideology and its advanced detachment. This party has been built and formed to accomplish the ultimate aim of the working class and common working masses, that is to say, the objective of establishing the workers’ state and socialist system and to present the independent position of the workers and the common working masses, that is to say, representation of their political class interests in the elections in the present capitalist system, too, as part of the whole revolutionary movement of building such a socialist system and advancing it forward. If this is not done, then the workers and the common working classes are compelled to tail-end one or the other bourgeois or petty bourgeois electoralist political party as we can see happening today. Voting for one or the other bourgeois party has become a means employed by the people to vent their anger or punish these parties. But what will come out of it? Nothing! Perhaps at the most some reform legislations will be enacted and which will not be implemented and thus will not be able to provide even immediate relief. What has this vicious cycle given us in past seventy years? Nothing at all! Only hunger, unemployment, impoverishment have been our destiny. Therefore, what is needed today is a revolutionary party of the working class and working masses which represents their independent position in every sphere.
With this objective in mind, the Revolutionary Workers’ Party of India is initiating the revolutionary intervention of the working class in the bourgeois elections by fielding pro-working class candidates in different parts of the country in the seventeenth Lok Sabha elections. We appeal to all workers, poor peasants, common working masses, common women, poor Dalit and tribal population and distressed, anxious people of the lower middle class that in the coming election if the Revolutionary Workers’ Party of India is contesting from your area, then vote for them in a united fashion and exert every possible effort to make them victorious. We also appeal to individuals from other classes who are justice-loving, progressive and believe in secular and democratic ideas to vote and support the Revolutionary Workers’ Party of India. We appeal to all working brothers and sisters, young friends to become volunteers of the Revolutionary Workers’ Party of India and play your role in ensuring the victory of its candidates. We are calling upon the people to press NOTA button in those areas where candidates of the Revolutionary Party of India are not in the fray.
Imagine for once: If a pro-working class candidate wins from your parliamentary constituency then what all can be done. The strict implementation of the labour laws will become possible to a large extent, be it the question of minimum wages or weekly off, payment of overtime with double-rate or benefits such as ESI-PF. The arrangement for potable water, sanitation and toilets, lighting and electricity, community centres, hospitals and primary health centres in the colonies of workers and common working masses in this area can be made possible because now the parliamentarian would be a representative and a companion on the workers’ side. The voice of the rights of the workers and common working masses can be taken to the corridors of the parliament and each and every bourgeois representative standing against these interests can be exposed. The voice against the atrocities committed by the police and the administration against workers and the toiling masses can be raised far more effectively as well as emphatically and can even be prevented as much as possible with one’s might. The true representative of the working class will always be present in all the sorrows, troubles-tribulations and moments of distress faced by the working class and toiling classes and this will advance the entire class struggle of the working class. If the candidate of the Revolutionary Workers’ Party of India wins then the entire parliamentarian fund (Member of Parliament Local Area Development- MPLAD Fund) can be utilized transparently and through collective decision-making to complete the developmental projects. Besides, the parliamentarian from the Revolutionary Workers’ Party of India will take salary equivalent to a skilled worker and rest of the salary would be pooled into the development fund. In order to implement all the governmental schemes arriving in a constituency in a transparent manner, their public audit would be conducted and all the development work would be accomplished under the vigilance of the peoples’ elected committees. Certainly, having a few representatives of the working class would not bring about workers’ rule or socialism, however, this, too, is true that the working class will be in a far better position to achieve its economic and political rights within the ambit of this system and its struggle for the revolutionary transformation of this entire system, too, will advance forward. We appeal to all of you that in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, vote, support and make victorious the Revolutionary Workers’ Party of India in an emphatic, wholehearted, organized and united manner.
5. The Agenda of the Revolutionary Workers’ Party of India in the Elections
The Revolutionary Workers’ Party of India will contest in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections with the following agenda.
1. All indirect taxes will be abolished and the system of progressive taxation will be properly implemented on the incomes and inherited property. That is to say, the rich, upper-middle and well-to-do middle classes will have to pay direct taxes, whose rate will increase will increasing income.
2. All banks, big corporate houses and companies, and all mines will be nationalized. If we cast a glance at the total assets of the corporate houses, we will find that their major share comes from the debts taken from banks, especially public banks, which is the money of the people. Moreover, all the riches and wealth of these companies are produced by the working class collectively, which is owned by these capitalists. Even if we look at the matter from the perspective of capitalist rules, the working class has long ago paid back the initial investments made by the owners of these companies in the form of profits. Today, every nail owned by these companies rightfully belongs to the workers and employees of these companies in common. Therefore, the entire assets of all these companies and corporate houses will be declared national property.
3. Land will be nationalized and all farms, which are not cultivated solely by the self or family labour of the owner but rather by hired labourers on a regular basis, will be collectivized and will be handed over to the collectives of poor peasants and agricultural labourers, or they will be converted into model state farms. Land cannot be anyone’s private property. It is a natural resource which should be used in common by all.
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4. The right to work is, in fact, the right to live. Without the right to work, a formal right to live, is a mere deception. The right to work should be included in the fundamental rights in the constitution. For this, the necessary constitutional amendment should be made and ‘Bhagat Singh National Employment Guarantee Act’ be enacted, under which the government will be responsible for providing permanent employment for entire year, failing which, the government should make provision for Rs. 10,000 as unemployment allowance.
5. In all work of regular and perennial nature, the contract system would be abolished.
6. The working day will legally be reduced to 6 hours a day. In the decade of 1970, the share of wages in the value of total production of country was approximately 30 percent, which has now fallen below 11 percent. The working class is producing much more than what it was in the 1970s and the technology, too, has made considerable advancements, which resultantly has increased the productivity of labour incredibly. However, their wages have not increased in the same proportion; on the contrary, the working hours have increased. It is totally justified today to demand that the length of the work day should be decreased to 6 hours. This will also lead to generation of new jobs in huge numbers.
7. The national level minimum wage will be increased at least to Rs.20,000 per month. Today, with less than this much income, a family of four, struggles to fulfill even its basic needs. The states in which the cost of living is higher, the minimum wage should be enhanced even further in accordance with the increased cost of living.
8. In all industries, the safety of workers will be properly guaranteed and all the safety standards will be duly implemented.
9. The system of overtime will be completely abolished. The workers undertake “voluntarily” or involuntarily overtime owing to low wages. This dehumanizes the lives of workers and turns them into a machine or a beast of burden. To put an end to this kind of dehumanization of the working class, the system of overtime will be entirely abolished.
10. Night work (night shift) will be abolished and will only be allowed in the industries where it is absolutely necessary. In those industries too, the duration of night work will not exceed four hours and this would be regulated under the supervision of workers’ unions in all such industries.
11. Hiring of young persons below the age of school children (16 years) will be completely prohibited. For young persons between 16 and 18 years of age, the working hours will not exceed 4 hours.
12. Women labour will be prohibited in all such industries which are hazardous to women’s health. All pregnant women workers will be given paid maternity leave for 6 months before and 6 months after the child birth.
13. In all branches of industry, women will be given equal pay as the male workers and night work for women will be prohibited in all industries, except where it is absolutely necessary. In those cases too, the night work will not exceed 4 hours and it will be the responsibility of the employer to arrange safe transport of women workers from home to work and back.
14. In the enterprises where women are employed, there will be proper arrangement of crèche and nursery inside the work place and breast-feeding mothers would be given at least half-an-hour break at every 3 hours for this.
15. In all enterprises, at least one day weekly off will be given.
16. For workers and common working masses who do not exploit the labour of others, there will be a system of state insurance under which the state will be obligated to pay the insurance money in case of any kind of handicap, sickness, birth of a child, death of spouse, orphans. For this insurance scheme, the government will collect money by charging special cess on capitalists.
17. Payment of wages in kind will be completely prohibited and in every industry a fixed monthly date of payment of wages will be determined.
18. The deductions in wages under any pretext by the employers will be totally prohibited.
19. The labour department will be expanded with large-scale new recruitments. New labour inspectors, factory inspectors and boiler inspectors will be recruited in such numbers that all economic units could be inspected in a regular and thorough fashion. All the inspection teams will be reorganized on the principle of ‘three-in-one’ with government-appointed inspectors, elected representatives of workers’ organizations/unions, and representative of employers, with the proviso that the workers’ representatives will be in majority.
20. In all industrial units the management of labour and production will be given to the ‘three-in-one’ committees of elected representatives of workers, managers and technicians, in which the workers’ representatives will be in majority. The speed and aims of production will be determined by this committee.
21. For all industries hiring women workers, there will be arrangement of women labour inspectors.
22. For all industries, strict rules and regulations for cleanliness and hygiene will be framed according to which there should be arrangement of clean bathrooms, toilets, etc. in all industrial units. For the inspection of this, a sanitary inspectorate will be constituted in the labour department.
23. To ensure the above, necessary amendments will be made in the labour laws and their violation will be made a punishable criminal offence. The owners do not fear small monetary fines and these create no problems for them. Therefore, there should be at least a non-bailable 3-month imprisonment for the violation of any labour law.
24. A separate labour exchange will be constituted for the domestic workers, in which they will be registered and which will provide domestic worker to any individual who applies for them. All labour laws including minimum wages will be implemented for the domestic workers. There will be a separate legislation for them which will ensure their dignity, egalitarian behavior with them in houses and their employment security. Not only the identity and registration of domestic workers will be ensured, but also their employers would be duly investigated, identified and registered.
25. For the labourers standing on the so-called ‘labour-chowk’ too, a separate labour exchange will be constituted in which, their minimum day-wage and working hours will be regulated. Their identity cards will be made and anyone wanting to hire labour for casual work will be obliged to contact these exchanges only.
26. The work of agricultural labourers will be brought under the ambit of labour laws and to ensure their implementation for them a proper structure will be made.
27. In all industries, industrial and labour courts will be constituted which will have the power to resolve industrial disputes and take penal action against those who violate the labour laws.
28. All the special scheme workers like the Anganwadi workers, ASHA workers, etc. will be given permanent employment and in place of special schemes like the Integrated Child Development Scheme or Rural Health Mission, the government will establish proper departments for all these welfare work and these functions should be made part of state policy, rather than that of a special scheme.
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29. The Special Economic Zone (SEZ) law will immediately be repealed and all the existing SEZs will be closed down.
30. Forced acquisition of land for corporate interests will be entirely prohibited and if for common people’s interest the land acquisition is necessary, then the entire affected population will be properly rehabilitated.
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31. Private schools and educational institutions will be totally abolished and equal and free education from primary education to higher education for every citizen of India will be legally ensured. Every child irrespective of his/her family should get equal education. School education will be linked with production-related training and this will be made compulsory for all children.
32. Everyone will have the freedom to education, work, think and expression in their own mother-tongue. Therefore, no language will be accorded the status of ‘state language’. In every region, the masses shall have the right of education, all administrative work, judicial activities in their own mother-tongue. The business and undertakings of courts, government offices and all departments shall be conducted in the language of the people of that region.
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33. State housing for all working masses will be arranged. These houses will be given to them on the basis of usufruct (the right to enjoy the use). For this, all the vacant private apartments, flats and houses should be confiscated by the government. Though the housing problem can be completely resolved only when private property in land and house is abolished completely, yet, till such day, giving pukka houses to all workers and jhuggi-dwellers on the basis of usufruct should be made into the responsibility of the government, so that the fundamental right of housing could be ensured.
34. The government will guarantee free universal healthcare, under which the treatment and medicine should be the responsibility of the government.
35. An effective system of rationing will be made under the public distribution system by the government and ration shops in all areas will be opened.
36. New Pension Scheme will be immediately annulled and by consulting workers’ organizations a new fair and rational pension scheme will be implemented.●
37. The State will be made fully independent of religion, religious institutions and all kinds of religious activities.
38. Religion will be completely separated from political and social life and it will be made entirely an affair of private life.
39. All educational institutions will be separated from religion and religious activities, for instance, religious prayer, religious ceremonies, religious symbols, etc.
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40. In all villages and cities, Mohalla Sabhas of citizens will be constituted and decisions regarding the use of allocated money in all government schemes will lie in the hands of these Sabhas (assemblies).
41. All companies not repaying the public debts and the Non Performing Assets will be immediately nationalized and will be declared the property of the people.
42. There will be total government control on all kinds of natural resources and leasing them out for exploitation to the corporate houses under any kind of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will be prohibited with immediate effect.
43. An appropriate social security legislation for fulfillment of all basic needs of all physically or mentally invalid, orphans, elderly persons will be enacted and the responsibility of the government regarding this will be fixed and ensured.
44. It will be the responsibility of the government to ensure employment and housing for all single women who have been victim of domestic violence, harassment, assault, etc. and to ensure this a strict law will be made.
45. In all villages and cities, such community centres will be built which are equipped with sports centre, gymnasium, library and reading room, cultural centres, so that all citizens can get the full opportunity of complete mental and physical development.
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46. All draconian and anti-democratic laws like the UPA, MCOCA, UPCOCA, etc. will be immediately repealed.
47. The draconian sedition law of the colonial period will be repealed with immediate effect. Moreover, all the anti-people laws and rules of colonial period including the IPC, CrPC, and Jail Manual will be immediately repealed. The Official Secrets Act will be immediately repealed.
48. Section 144 will be immediately repealed.
49. AFSPA and Disturbed Areas Act will be immediately repealed.
50. The entire scheme of Aadhar will be annulled immediately.
51. All the political prisoners will be given all the rights of the political prisoners and all those imprisoned under the draconian laws will be immediately set free.
52. The denial of the democratic rights of workers and employees such as strike through the use of laws like ESMA will be put to an end and such laws will be immediately repealed.
53. The laws which give the corporates the free hand to plunder the forests and environment such as CAMPA and EPA will be immediately repealed and all the orders, rules and laws displacing the tribals from their right of communal use of the water, forests and land will be immediately annulled.
54. The workers will get the full right to form unions and all the laws and rules creating hurdles in this will be immediately annulled.
55. Kashmir and North-Eastern states as well as Chattisgarh will be completely demilitarized.
56. Citizenship Amendment Bill will be immediately annulled.
57. Uniform Civil Code for all citizens of the country will be implemented.
58. A strict law to completely prohibit all the electoral parties from using religious symbols, religious sentiments, caste identities and caste sentiments in any form in their electoral propaganda and other activities will be enacted and violation of this law will incur stringent punishment.
59. A strict law will be made to ensure stringent penal action against the individuals and organizations accused of riots.
60. A high-level enquiry of all the scams during the last five years like the Rafale Scam, Demonetisation Scam, NPA Scam will be conducted immediately.
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61. Not only untouchability but all kinds of caste-based discrimination will be declared a punishable offence and caste-based matrimonial advertisements, caste-based associations and caste-based panchayats would be prohibited with immediate effect.
62. All the nationalities within India will have the full right to self-determination including the right to secede. A common state of all the working masses of all nationalities cannot be formed on the basis of coercion but only on the basis of voluntary decision. We support the formation of biggest possible common state of all nations and nationalities based on voluntary decision.
63. In order to ensure the liberation of women, in all villages and cities, arrangement of sufficient crèches, nurseries and day-boarding will be made and the government will also construct huge community kitchens, where food on cost-value will be available.
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64. All parties registered by the Election Commission will be brought under the Right to Information Act immediately.
65. The use of EVMs from the election process will be completely done away with and the system of paper ballets will be restored.
66. In order to end the power of money from the elections, small constituencies will be formed, the system of proportional representation will be established and all money or property-related pre-requisites to contest in an election will be done away with immediately. The right to recall can, as a matter of fact, be ensured for the people only in such an electoral system.
67. There will be public audit of all government bodies and this audit should be done by committees elected by the masses.
68. The Police and Army should be used for productive work in the peace-time and they should be given all the democratic rights like study of political literature, forming unions, strike, etc. The system of orderlies will be abolished immediately in the police and the army. The army officials shall be elected by the soldiers. The authority of an elected army official alone can be a real authority with acceptance.
69. Military training for all citizens will be made mandatory. Eventually, the entire people shall be universally armed and the institution of standing army and police shall be abolished. Every citizen going for military service shall be given full wages for every day of military service by their employers.
70. The huge expenditure incurred on the purchase of arms and the privileges of army officers shall be curtailed.
71. The demand of One Rank One Pension by the soldiers will be immediately accepted.
72. The discrimination vis-à-vis food and living conditions based on rank in the police, military and paramilitary forces will be immediately abolished.
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73. No government official or elected people’s representative will be given salary more than the wages of a skilled worker. Eventually, the system of election of all officials will be established and the electorate will have the right to recall them. Only then corruption can be curbed.
74. The privileges and special facilities given to MPs, MLAs, corporators, ministers, bureaucrats etc. will be abolished.
75. The system of elected jury will be established in the entire judiciary and eventually the system of election of individual judges by the masses will be put into practice.
76. The humongous media apparatus controlled by the corporate houses has become an instrument of suppressing the truth, propaganda of various falsehoods and manufacturing consent in favour of the exploitative and repressive power. On the other hand, the forms and means of people’s media standing against the power are regulated and curtailed in every possible way. While keeping in mind the original spirit of freedom of press and expression, a body of elected people’s representative will be formed which will prohibit the news and entertainment media from spreading lies, superstition and unscientific ideas and ensure fact-based reporting. An effective law will be brought in to potently stop fake news. The policy of government advertisements and subsidies will be implemented in a transparent fashion.
77. A strict law will be made to ensure the economic rights, political rights, for instance the right to organize and form unions, and the safety of media workers and a system will be put in place to ensure that the government or the capitalist class cannot intervene in their work and functioning on the basis of money power.
78. The government has given unhindered right to various intelligence, police and military agencies to snoop and intervene in the private lives of citizens. This will be immediately annulled and if there is a need to have vigilance over an individual or organization on the basis of any potential danger to public safety, such agencies will be obliged to seek a written permission from an elected body of people’s representatives.
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79. All the secret treaties concluded by the government of India will be disclosed before the people of India.
80. The government of India shall immediately withdraw from all kinds of international patent laws and unequal treaties.
81. The foreign debt of all imperialist countries and agencies will be immediately written off. Any kind of unequal or military treaties with any imperialist country will be immediately annulled and there will be no such treaties concluded in the future.
82. India will unconditionally support the right of Palestinian people to self-determination and strongly support a common secular and democratic state for Muslims, Jews and Christians and all other communities on the international forums and till such a state comes into existence India will fully boycott the Apartheid state of Israel in all political, economic and cultural matters.
83. India will immediately withdraw from all treaties of WTO and free trade.
84. India will immediately give up the membership of the Commonwealth.
