How do political parties in the Opposition, that are considered to have progressive ideas and have walked hand in hand with people’s organisations, behave when they occupy power? What should be the equation between them to achieve people’s goals.
These were some of the questions that emerged at the National Alliance of People’s Movements’ fourth day event held here on Tuesday.
The panel comprising leaders of various political parties and grassroots organisations discussed politics around agrarian policies, oppression, authoritarianism, development, Constitution and democracy, and their role in defending them.
According to Kusumam Joseph, NAPM leader from Kerala, even the Left Democratic Front in Kerala, which is considered progressive, has been keeping people in the dark about important projects. Protests are stifled, FIRs are filed arbitrarily against activists, and the government has been anti-tribal and anti-minorities, she said.
Referring to an incident on Monday, when activist Medha Patkar was asked by the Hyderabad police to return from a locality affected by the Musi Riverfront development project, AICC in-charge (Telangana) Meenakshi Natarajan said a progressive political party must not ask citizens to take permission before visiting an area.
“Workers of political party think power is given to them by top leaders, they have forgotten that they take real power from people and people’s movements. Real politics is about working for social and economic change,” she said, identifying herself as a Sarvodaya karyakarta.
On pending promises and issues in Telangana, Ms. Natarajan said she will have a regular dialogue with people’s organisations and explore possible solutions with the State government.
For MLC Kodandaram, who remembered his political career as starting from people’s organisation, correcting politics is also an important job, and how the equation between the two can continue for a dialogue is still an experiment.
“It is a difficult and a new task, but the dialogue must continue, and we should explore new methods and experiments to achieve it. We want politics without the money and politics that are people-centric,” he said.
Rythu Swarajya Vedika leader Kiran Vissa presenting Telangana’s case said the Congress replacing the Bharat Rashtra Samithi in 2023 was an achievement of people’s organisations too.
“Although the Congress government operationalised some of the schemes, the crucial promise such as to tenant farmers is pending and the government continues to use the Land Acquisition legislation diluted by BRS government in 2017 for all projects,” he pointed.
According to Clifton D’ Rozario of CPI (ML), “The country under BJP government is witnessing India’s version of fascism. The fight against caste, patriarchy and feudalism is the fight against fascism.”
All India Kisan Sabha leader Ashok Dhawale, in a virtual address, said the repeal of the three Farm Bills in 2021 was an achievement of people’s organisations. But the BJP government, through a backdoor, is trying to implement the same through Draft ‘National Policy Framework on Agricultural Marketing, he said, calling for a united opposition to the move.
Speakers included Medha Patkar, Samajwadi Party MP Javed Ali, CPI leader Annie Raja and others.
Published - March 04, 2025 08:16 pm IST
