FEATURE

(Below of is the full text of the speech delivered by Com. Dipankar Bhattacharya, GS while receving the receives the ‘Ambedkar Sudar’ Award, instituted by the the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi on May 28, 2023 in Chennai)

Honourable President Comrade Thirumavalavan, Comrades Sinthanai Selvan, D Ravikumar and other leaders and members of VCK, esteemed fellow awardees Comrade D Raja, Comrade K Balakrishnan, Mr. Appavu, Mrs Thayammal Arvaanan, Mr Mohan Gopal and Sri Rajendra Pal Gautam, comrades and friends,

The process of exchange of Rs.2,000 notes into currencies of smaller denomination has begun. A maximum amount of Rs.20,000 or ten Rs.2K notes can be exchanged in a single transaction. Persons exchanging Rs.2K notes need not have bank accounts and need not disclose their identities. The process will go on till 30 September and any residual Rs.2K notes will remain legal tender even after this deadline. The anonymous conversion of big notes in any amount will thus invite no scrutiny.

Swami Sahajanand Saraswati’s legacy is the legacy of revolutionary peasants’ movement and Bihar’s people will not accept BJP’s attempts to cast him as a caste leader. The BJP is trying to malign the legacy of a revolutionary by projecting him in a castiest political agenda to advance its divisive politics.

The Modi regime’s decision to impose 5% GST on food items including pre-packed and pre-labeled pulses/daal, wheat, rye, oats, maize, rice, atta, suji/rawa, besan, muri (puffed rice), milk and curd/lassi imposes a cruel additional burden on people who are already suffering the steepest rates of inflation and unemployment in decades.

- Dipankar Bhattacharya

Bihar is currently in the clutches of criminals to whom the Nitish government has abjectly surrendered. Heinous incidents like murder, crime, loot, rape have become the norm, whether it is the recent brutal killing of 4 persons in Madhubani or the police in Bhagalpur mercilessly beating a government employee to death.