The CPM on Saturday came down heavily on the UPA government for not making enough efforts to implement major pro-people policies in the Common Minimum Programme (CMP), while the party was at its defensive best in supporting Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government on Nandigram issue.

The party Central Committee, which concluded its three-day meeting on Saturday, endorsed the party stand to wait for the government’s briefing at the UPA-Left Committee on the negotiations being carried out at the IAEA, before taking any stand on the Indo-US nuclear deal.

The Central Committee (CC) also discussed and adopted the draft political resolution to be presented at the 19th Congress of the Party to be held in March next year.

The draft resolution is believed to have asked the UPA government to make more efforts to combat communalism and implement major pro-people promises made in the CMP.  The CC is learnt to have favoured the party to decide on coalition tactics on the basis of a post-poll political situation, with the main thrust on keeping the communal forces at bay.

It also said the stories about murder, rape and arson in Nandigram were designed to defame the party.
“Since the CPM is in the forefront of opposition to a strategic alliance with the United States and firmly against neo-liberal policies which harm the interests of the working people,” the highest party policy-making body said in a statement.

“An illustration of this smear campaign is the spate of media reports attributed to the CBI about the incidents of March 14. What is being cited are not the CBI’s conclusion after investigations but the complaints lodged and the deposition of persons in this connection. The CBI has yet to submit its report to the High Court for which it has asked for two months time,” it said.

“The government is yet to fulfil the promises in the CMP on several crucial issues and we will continue to put pressure on it on these counts,” CPM politburo member Sitaram Yechury told reporters after the meeting.
Referring to Manmohan Singh’s “pro-US” foreign policy the party Central Committee said, “with the Bush administration’s fabricated stand being exposed, it is incumbent upon the UPA government to review its shortsighted and harmful policy towards Iran.”

The CPM also demanded to tighten the Essential Commodities Act and take stringent steps against hoarding and speculation in essential commodities. The future trading should be prohibited not only for wheat and rice but also for other essential commodities.

Disappointment

The Central Committee also expressed its disappointment that the Eleventh Five Year Plan finalised in the National Development Council meeting had not provided a sub-plan for the minorities.
The plan has stopped short by talking of separate earmarking of fiscal and financial targets for the minority communities.