CPI general secretary D. Raja has exhorted the party rank and file to be prepared for the forthcoming assembly elections in five States as they are crucial for the Left parties in general and CPI in particular.

The CPI leaderships in West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Puducherry should focus their energies on the upcoming elections in these States, he said. Mr. Raja delivered the inaugural address at the three-day national executive and national council meeting of the CPI which got off here on Friday.

The national council was the first meeting with direct participation convened by a political party after the incidence of the pandemic. The meeting is expected to discuss at length about the upcoming elections in the five States and the ‘anti-people’ legislations enacted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi led Central government among others.

The CPI general secretary lamented that the Central government resorted to several retrograde steps in the light of COVID and enacted several “anti-farmer and anti-worker” legislations in Parliament. The enactment of the legislations had exposed once again that the BJP-led government was working to serve the interests of big businesses and corporates.

The government was sure to face severe opposition from the farmers, workers, women and other sections for its agricultural laws and privatization of the public sector establishments in the guise of the pandemic. The national council of the CPI which is slated to start from Saturday would deliberate on these issues. The national council meeting would also evolve strategies that should be adopted in the run up to the elections in the five States.

The COVID pandemic, Mr. Raja said, had severe impact on the economies across the globe and the year was challenging for every sector. He criticised the Narendra Modi-led government for its tall claims on the measures to check the pandemic but the government had in fact left the people to fend for themselves. In this context, he appreciated different sections which stood with the people in their struggle against the pandemic.

“While the first COVID case was registered in December 2019, the Modi government was busy making arrangements to accord grand welcome to former US president Donald Trump ignoring the welfare of the people,” he alleged. He expressed satisfaction that the membership of the party had increased significantly in spite of the incidence of coronavirus and said the party could not conduct its national council meetings in view of the pandemic.