BHOPAL: CPI (M) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government in Madhya Pradesh on Friday, charging that it was neck-deep in corruption and working against the interests of farmers, tribals and dalits.

Ms. Karat was addressing a huge public rally here to mark the culmination of a CPI (M) workers’ “padayatra” (long march) in protest against a villager’s death in police firing in front of a cement factory in Rewa.

Ms. Karat said her party’s red flag would march forward in Madhya Pradesh and help in building up the agenda to address poverty through politics. “The struggle of the poor would have to be strengthened to bring this agenda in sharp focus,” she said, adding that the red flag would play a major role in bringing about change in the State.

The CPI(M) leader said the rulers at the Centre as well as in the State were pursuing policies of liberalisation and it was an irony that on the one hand they talked of development while on the other they were bulldozing the hopes and aspirations of the poor.

Ms. Karat said it was also an irony that over 3 crore people were living below the poverty line in Madhya Pradesh.

Charging that the farmers had been pushed to a corner due to the anti-farmer policies of the Government, she said farmers in large numbers were being forced to commit suicide in the State. “The State Government has failed to provide any succour to the drought-affected farmers who are now going through the crisis of indebtedness. In Kerala, the farmers have been benefited by a new debt relief law, whereas in Madhya Pradesh the BJP-led government has chosen to slap cases of electricity theft against 8,1000 farmers.”

Ms. Karat accused the State Government of conspiring with multinational companies and denying Below Poverty Line (BPL) cards to those living below the poverty line. The poor were being denied the right to possess these cards, she added.

Referring to landless forest dwellers, she said they were being evicted from land they had occupied for several generations. “The forest dwellers will have to struggle for proper implementation of the Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006,” she added.

The dalits also were suffering in Madhya Pradesh, Ms. Karat charged, adding that “they have land only on paper and do not have its possession.”

She said cases had been registered against 1,342 dalit women sarpanchas in Madhya Pradesh, whereas those in the Government continued to go scot-free despite serious charges of corruption against them.

Referring to the “dumper scam” in Madhya Pradesh, she said she would prefer to call Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan as “Dumper Singh”.

The Left parties, she said, were supporting the United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre on the clear understanding that they would use their position to protect the interests of the poor and this was in turn rattling the “bourgeoisie rulers”.

Alleging that America wants to turn India into a “grazing ground”, she asserted that the CPI (M) would not allow that to happen. Citing the example of the much talked about Indo-US nuclear deal, she said it was not covered under the Common Minimum Programme and reiterated the CPI (M) stand calling for its complete review. Accusing the BJP of double standards, she said it had secretly hobnobbed with America when it was in power at the Centre.

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