Welcoming the Mumbai special court’s ruling sentencing 11 to life imprisonment in the Bilkis Bano gangrape and massacre case in Gujarat, the CPM points out that there are several hundreds of pending cases relating to the Gujarat carnage and it was imperative to ensure that justice in these cases is delivered at the earliest. An editorial in the latest issue of the People’s Democracy points out that it was ‘ominous’ that the BJP should invoke the refrain that it shall turn all states in India into Gujarats. The RSS/BJP’s ‘prime minister in waiting’ designate has repeated this on every possible occasion since his anointment, says the editorial. Global recessionThe latest issue of People’s Democracy carries the draft Political Resolution for the 19th Party Congress, to be held from March 29 to April 3, 2008, in Coimbatore. According to the resolution, the world economy is facing prospects of a slowdown, and the main reason is the collapse of the real estate boom in the US. Since the US economy accounts for around 20 per cent of global imports, a slowdown in the US economy is bound to spill over into other advanced economies like the EU and Japan as well as developing countries like China and India, it says. Neo-liberal UPAAccording to the draft resolution, the Indian economy has continued to move on the neoliberal path under the UPA regime. With government policies continuing to favour big business, it says that private corporate investment and profits have increased significantly, bringing about an increase in the annual GDP growth from around 6 per cent during the 1990s to over 8 per cent being experienced since 2003-04. However, the corporate investment-led growth regime has not led to increase in employment and livelihood opportunities for the masses. Kashmir problemThe CPM’s draft resolution reiterates that a political solution was possible only by assuring the Kashmiri people that their identity and culture will be fully safeguarded. The CPM advocates the creation of a political set-up which provides for maximum autonomy for the state based on Article 370 of the Constitution. An autonomous set-up should be created with the regions of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh being given regional autonomy. The political settlement should build on the various proposals including autonomous units of the various regions on both sides of the LoC. It is imperative that the major political parties acknowledge that the concept of autonomy lies at the heart of the solution, says the draft resolution. Role of NGOs Referring to the increasing number of foreign-funded NGOs, the CPM’s draft resolution says that many of these NGOs were engaged in anti-Left activities. This stems from their ideological opposition to the organised Left and the CPM in particular, it says. Imperialist agencies are among the sponsors of such funded organisations, it goes on, and argues that the law should be amended to prohibit foreign funding for NGOs and the so-called social movements.
