News Analysis India

Tag: Communist Party of India

  • Right gets Left support: As Thackeray group faces crucial Assembly bypoll, it gets CPI backing

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: As the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena gears up for its most crucial electoral battle after the June revolt – the Andheri (East) Assembly bypoll on November 3 – it has got the backing of the Communist Party of India (CPI), whose candidate the saffron outfit defeated in 1970 that triggered the decline of Left forces in Mumbai.

    On Wednesday, a delegation of CPI leaders met former chief minister Thackeray at his residence here and extended the Left party’s support to his faction’s candidate in the Maharashtra Assembly bypoll in Andheri (East), a suburb of Mumbai.

    CPI’s Mumbai secretary Milind Ranade said his party has pledged support to Thackeray for the bypoll necessitated by the death of sitting Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh Latke.

    “The CPI will stand with the MVA (Maha Vikas Aghadi) in its fight against the BJP,” Ranade said.

    The former CM’s faction has been given the name Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) by the Election Commission (EC) as an interim arrangement.

    Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who led a revolt against Thackeray’s leadership, heads the rebel faction of the party and his group is known as Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena.

    Thackeray’s candidate is being backed by the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) — constituents of the MVA — and some factions of the Republican Party of India (RPI).

    Taking a dig at the Thackeray-led faction, Deepak Kesarkar, a state minister and spokesperson for the Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena, on Thursday said taking support of the CPI was akin to “murder of the party’s ideology”.

    The CPI and the Shiv Sena, which still swears by Hindutva, had been arch political foes and their fierce rivalry often spilled on to the streets of Mumbai, leading to violent clashes in the past.

    In his book ‘Shiv Sena’ Kal, Aaj ani Udya’, senior Sena leader and former chief minister Manohar Joshi, rites that for his party, the Communists were always their “number one enemy”.

    “In the interest of the city, the country, it was necessary to save them from the red trap,” Joshi said.

    In the 1970 Parel Assembly bypoll in Mumbai, necessitated after the death of Communist leader Krishna Desai, the Shiv Sena defeated the CPI in what was a crucial victory for the then-fledgling party founded by Bal Thackeray in 1966.

    In that bypoll, Shiv Sena’s Wamanrao Mahadik defeated Sarojini Desai, the widow of Krishna Desai who wielded considerable influence among mill workers in the metropolis.

    The Communist leader was killed in the Tavripada area of Lalbaug.

    According to journalist Vaibhav Purandare, the author of ‘Bal Thackeray and the Rise of the Shiv Sena’, 19 persons, suspected to be Shiv Sainiks, were arrested for Desai’s murder.

    Three of them were acquitted, while the rest convicted.

    Prakash Akolkar, veteran journalist and Shiv Sena biographer, in his book ‘Ha Shiv Sena Navacha Itihas Aahe’, writes that many newspapers had come down heavily on the Shiv Sena after Desai’s murder.

    Like now, when the Shiv Sena is being backed by a number of parties, Purandare says, a 13-party combination had supported Sarojini Desai in the 1970 bypoll.

    After its victory in the bypoll 52 years ago, the Shiv Sena established itself as a dominant political force in the Lalbaug-Parel belt in the heart of Mumbai.

    For the Shiv Sena, a victory in the 1970 bypoll was crucial for its expansion and now in 2022, the outcome of the November 3 electoral battle will be important for the 56-year-old outfit’s survival and its future.

    MUMBAI: As the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena gears up for its most crucial electoral battle after the June revolt – the Andheri (East) Assembly bypoll on November 3 – it has got the backing of the Communist Party of India (CPI), whose candidate the saffron outfit defeated in 1970 that triggered the decline of Left forces in Mumbai.

    On Wednesday, a delegation of CPI leaders met former chief minister Thackeray at his residence here and extended the Left party’s support to his faction’s candidate in the Maharashtra Assembly bypoll in Andheri (East), a suburb of Mumbai.

    CPI’s Mumbai secretary Milind Ranade said his party has pledged support to Thackeray for the bypoll necessitated by the death of sitting Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh Latke.

    “The CPI will stand with the MVA (Maha Vikas Aghadi) in its fight against the BJP,” Ranade said.

    The former CM’s faction has been given the name Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) by the Election Commission (EC) as an interim arrangement.

    Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who led a revolt against Thackeray’s leadership, heads the rebel faction of the party and his group is known as Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena.

    Thackeray’s candidate is being backed by the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) — constituents of the MVA — and some factions of the Republican Party of India (RPI).

    Taking a dig at the Thackeray-led faction, Deepak Kesarkar, a state minister and spokesperson for the Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena, on Thursday said taking support of the CPI was akin to “murder of the party’s ideology”.

    The CPI and the Shiv Sena, which still swears by Hindutva, had been arch political foes and their fierce rivalry often spilled on to the streets of Mumbai, leading to violent clashes in the past.

    In his book ‘Shiv Sena’ Kal, Aaj ani Udya’, senior Sena leader and former chief minister Manohar Joshi, rites that for his party, the Communists were always their “number one enemy”.

    “In the interest of the city, the country, it was necessary to save them from the red trap,” Joshi said.

    In the 1970 Parel Assembly bypoll in Mumbai, necessitated after the death of Communist leader Krishna Desai, the Shiv Sena defeated the CPI in what was a crucial victory for the then-fledgling party founded by Bal Thackeray in 1966.

    In that bypoll, Shiv Sena’s Wamanrao Mahadik defeated Sarojini Desai, the widow of Krishna Desai who wielded considerable influence among mill workers in the metropolis.

    The Communist leader was killed in the Tavripada area of Lalbaug.

    According to journalist Vaibhav Purandare, the author of ‘Bal Thackeray and the Rise of the Shiv Sena’, 19 persons, suspected to be Shiv Sainiks, were arrested for Desai’s murder.

    Three of them were acquitted, while the rest convicted.

    Prakash Akolkar, veteran journalist and Shiv Sena biographer, in his book ‘Ha Shiv Sena Navacha Itihas Aahe’, writes that many newspapers had come down heavily on the Shiv Sena after Desai’s murder.

    Like now, when the Shiv Sena is being backed by a number of parties, Purandare says, a 13-party combination had supported Sarojini Desai in the 1970 bypoll.

    After its victory in the bypoll 52 years ago, the Shiv Sena established itself as a dominant political force in the Lalbaug-Parel belt in the heart of Mumbai.

    For the Shiv Sena, a victory in the 1970 bypoll was crucial for its expansion and now in 2022, the outcome of the November 3 electoral battle will be important for the 56-year-old outfit’s survival and its future.

  • CPI(M) MP gives notice in Rajya Sabha to move privilege motion on Pegasus issue

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: CPI(M) MP V Sivadasan submitted a notice on Monday to move a privilege motion under rule 187 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Rajya Sabha, accusing the government of “misleading” the House on the Pegasus spyware issue.

    In his notice, Sivadasan said on August 9 last year, responding to his question on whether the government had carried out any transaction with NSO Group Technologies, Minister of State, Defence Ajay Bhatt said there was no transaction between the ministry and the Israeli firm, while a report in the New York Times has stated that India and Israel agreed on “the sale of a package of sophisticated weapons and intelligence gear worth roughly USD 2 billion — with Pegasus and a missile system as the centrepieces”.

    “This revelation confirms the apprehension that the reply by the Hon Minister was misleading the august House, thus constituting a breach of my privilege as a member of the House and of the privilege of the House as a whole. The matter has grave implications for the dignified functioning of Parliament,” he said.

    The Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP also said he had raised a similar question again, this time to the Ministry of Home Affairs, which was rejected, but the MHA chose to “insultingly dub the question as hypothetical in remarks, thus trying to convey the message that there was no ground for such a question to arise”.

    “This response was received in the members’ portal. But the New York Times and several national and international media houses have published the news that Pegasus was bought from NSO group of companies as part of a billion-dollar deal with Israel. Thus, it is evident that the response of the Ministry of Home Affairs is misleading.”

    ALSO READ: Pegasus spy row: CPI MP submits notice to move motion against Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw

    “As the minister heading the Ministry of Home Affairs, Amit Shah is responsible for the misleading response, which constitutes a breach of my privilege as a member of the House,” he said.

    Sivadasan also raised questions on the response of Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw, who in his statement on the Pegasus issue had said, “NSO has also clearly rubbished the claims in the report.”

    This revelation confirms the apprehension that the statement by the minister was misleading Parliament, thus constituting a breach of the privilege of the House. The matter has grave implications for the dignified functioning of Parliament.

    The continuous accountability of the executive to the legislature is the distinguishing feature. And any attempt by the executive to mislead Parliament constitutes a grave attack on the democratic values.

    “It is a frontal attack on the concept of popular sovereignty, which constitutes the bedrock of our democracy,” the Left leader said in his notice.

    “It is condemnable that the ministers deliberately chose to mislead the House by giving vague and incorrect statements”, he said, adding, “Based on the facts above mentioned, I propose to move a motion to refer the said question of privilege to the Committee of Privileges, Rajya Sabha.”

  • Kanhaiya Kumar has no faith in Communist ideology, expelled himself from CPI: D Raja

    He alleged that Kumar was quot;not truthful quot; with the Communist Party of India (CPI) leadership and also not quot;straightforward quot; in his demands from the party.

  • CPI all set to carry ‘lal jhanda’ to Arunachal Pradesh

    Express News Service
    GUWAHATI: Apparently, enthused by the success of Janata Dal (United) in Arunachal Pradesh in the recent past, Communist Party of India (CPI) has set its sights on the Himalayan state.

    It will formally launch its students’ wing, All India Students’ Federation (AISF), in the BJP-ruled state on January 17. The next step will be to set up the party organisation.

    “CPI and AISF have histories of 95 years and 85 years respectively. But Arunachal all along remained outside the ambit of “lal jhanda” (red flag). The lal jhanda will officially make it to the state through the AISF conference,” AISF’s national president Shuvam Banerjee told this newspaper from Kolkata on Sunday.

    As a matter of fact, the Left – or for that matter the red flag – has had its presence in the state. One Jomin Nyokir Kara had unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Arunachal West seat on the ticket of Forward Bloc.

    As per CPI constitution, the party has to have a mass-based organisation in a state before it (party) is launched there. Banerjee said he had worked for long towards launching AISF in Arunachal.

    “We have plans to organise a conference of our youth federation in the state within a month of the AISF conference. The CPI national council meeting will be held in Hyderabad from January 29-31. I will brief on the AISF conference there. The issue of party constitution in Arunachal will also be discussed,” Banerjee said.

    The AISF unit would be formed with students and others who just passed out. Anyone aged 16-30 years can be a member, he said.

    He claimed that Arunachal’s ordinary people were not happy with BJP and other parties as their leadership is based out of the state and this was evident in the recent panchayat elections. Ironically, BJP had won 80% of the seats, a good number of them uncontested.

    Arunachal had been under Congress for most part until the emergence of BJP as a powerhouse. JD (U) had sprung a surprise in the 2019 state polls by winning seven of the state’s 60 seats although six of them defected to BJP last month. Even in panchayat elections, it bagged nine of the 20 seats in capital Itanagar. Trinamool Congress also had a good outing in the 2009 state elections winning five seats. But, four of them had defected to the then ruling Congress in 2012. The fifth had merged with People’s Party of Arunachal the next year.