The CPIML kicked off its election campaign in Bihar with a massive rally on Sunday and a call to unite all those who are striving to bring political change in the state.
The Assembly polls are expected to be held in October-November this year.
Speaking on the occasion, CPIML general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya pointed out that he and other party leaders had taken out a Badlo Bihar Nyay Yatra (tour for change and justice in Bihar) last October from Krishna Nagar in Nawada district, where a Dalit habitation was torched to capture land on which they were settled for the past 60 years.
Bhattacharya asserted that the Bihar government was taking the land and houses of the people in Gaya, Patna and elsewhere without paying compensation to them.
He pointed out that atrocities were being committed on common people everywhere, including the brutal thrashing of an Imam at Benipatti in Madhubani by the police and the custodial death of one Shivam Jha in Muzaffarpur district because his poor family could not pay ₹1 lakh demanded by the police to absolve him of the charges of motorcycle theft.
“We observed that the common people of Bihar are suffering — the poor, farmers, women, Dalits, tribals, those staying in villages and cities. We thought of converting this suffering into a force of change, uniting everybody who has been fighting separately and gathering all our problems together with the sole aim of bringing change,” Bhattacharya added.
The CPIML general secretary said that the issues and those struggling against them, including various associations, have been brought together and the party has come up with a resolution.
“The issues, problems and sufferings are many, but the resolution is only one — to change Bihar. We are sounding the bugle for change with this mega gathering of people from all over the state,” Bhattacharya said.
The resolutions passed at the rally included fulfilling the promise of the previous Mahagathbandhan government to provide ₹2 lakh assistance to 95 lakh poor families in the state, 5 decimals of land to them for housing purposes, drinking water and pucca houses for all; countering the communal conspiracies; protecting the Constitution and creating an equal society; ensuring that no injustice or insult is done on any Indian staying in a foreign country, fighting corruption, atrocities on the Dalits, women and students.
The CPIML general secretary also pointed towards a recent survey conducted by a media house in which around 75 per cent people have accepted that the present government was useless and 50 per cent wanted to change the government.
“Let the BJP and the NDA daydream and think that after Maharashtra and Delhi, they will now capture Bihar. The BJP took a beating in the neighbouring Jharkhand where JMM, Congress and CPIML got together. Similarly, Bihar will also not stay behind and give a better result than the 2020 Assembly elections,” the CPIML general secretary said.
The 2020 Assembly polls saw a close fight in which the opposition Mahagathbandhan led by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) missed a chance to form the government by just seven seats in the 243-member House.
The CPIML leaders appealed to the people not to get divided on caste or communal lines and vote in the polls based on the issues they faced. They also said that reservation for people was in danger because the Constitution was in danger and various methods were being devised to deprive the people of quota.
The Left party leader also slammed chief minister Nitish Kumar for not striving hard for providing 65 per cent reservation for the Dalits, tribals and the backward classes and getting special category status for the state.
