Strengthen Secular Foundations
The CPI (M) advocates:
· Legislation for separation of religion and politics in light of the S.C. Judgement in the Bommai case.
· Effective prohibition on the use of religious issues for electoral purposes;
. Implementation of the Protection of Places of Worship Act to see that no disputes on religious places arise;
· The Ayodhya dispute to be referred to Supreme Court under Article 138(2) for a speedy judicial verdict;
· Special steps to prosecute all those found guilty by the Sri Krishna Commission for the Mumbai riots of 1993.
Education
The CPI(M) will strive for:
· Introduction of compulsory primary education accompanied by free mid-day meals, provision of textbooks and other education materials.
· Free and universal education to be guaranteed for all children upto the age of 14 years. The 83rd Constitutional Amendment Bill, which lapsed, must be revived and adopted to make education a basic right for children upto the age of 14.
Rights of Minorities
Equal rights and opportunities for all citizens, irrespective of religion or caste are essential for a secular-democratic society. The Muslim community and some other minorities suffer from various forms of deprivation and discrimination. Special measures are required to remove their social and economic backwardness. While doing so, the CPI(M) appeals to the minorities to abjure fundamentalism and join the common endeavour to struggle for a just society.
· Protection of the just rights of the minorities implement provisions of the Constitution to prevent discrimination.
· Special scheme for promoting educational facilities for deprived minorities.
Media and Culture
All national languages listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution should be equally encouraged and developed.
CPI(M): Electoral Strategy for Election, 99 - New Delhi, 25 July, 1999
.:. The crucial question is: How to defeat the BJP and its allies? If the Left and democratic forces had been strong in a major part of the country, there would not have been any problem at all. But unfortunately this is not the case except in West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura. It is true that right now, given the present correlation of class forces, no real alternative to the bourgeois-landlord rule can emerge. The immediate objective is to secure the very unity of the nation, its secular-federal edifice, so that the ground for forging the struggle for a real alternative by changing the correlation of class forces in favour of the working class and other toiling masses could be prepared.
The paramount immediate concern is to defeat the BJP and its allies ...
... The CPIM) and the Left cannot subscribe to the theory of "equidistance". No doubt the Congress has compromised its secular character several times in the past, but yet that character remains. This is why we cannot equate it with a rabidly communal party like the fascistic RSS controlled BJP which has to be defeated at all cost.
... In the three states where the CPI(M) and the Left are strong, they will fight the Congress. But in other states where the Left is not so strong, we will contest some of the seat s and, as for other seats, we will evaluate the situation seat by seat and extend support to such effective secular parties as are able to defeat the BJP-led combine. In states like UP and Maharashtra where secular votes are feared to be divided, we will support any secular candidate who is able to defeat the BJP in the seat concerned. What role the Left will play in the post-poll scenario, will of course depend on the concrete poll results ..
The CPI(M)'s objective in the present situation is:
1) to enhance the strength of the CPI(M) and the Left in Lok Sabha ...
2) to rally all the secular and democratic forces as far as possible ...
3) to extend support to other effective secular parties wherever necessary so that the BJP-led combine could be defeated. (Source: The People's Democracy, 1 August, 1999)
