KHAMMAM: Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Sunday hailed the spirit of communists and their unwavering struggle for the cause of the poor.
Participating in the CPI centenary celebrations in Khammam, the chief minister recalled that the communists have consistently fought for the cause of farmers, agricultural labourers, Dalits and tribals.
He paid tributes to “comrades who declared that they will lay down their lives in the struggle for the rights of the poor but would never abandon the red flag”.
“The communists came up with the ‘land to the tiller’ slogan. It was later implemented during the tenure of leaders such as Indira Gandhi, PV Narasimha Rao and Burgula Ramakrishna Rao. At a time when farmers had no say in fixing prices for their produce, the communists fought relentlessly for the minimum support price (MSP),” he said.
Revanth also hailed leaders like Puchalapalli Sundarayya, Chandra Rajeswara Rao, Nallamala Giriprasad and Seshagiri Rao, who according to him led historic struggles.
Hyderabad liberated due to sacrifices of 4K martyrs
The chief minister also said that the erstwhile Hyderabad state was liberated from the Nizam’s rule because of the sacrifices of nearly 4,000 martyrs. Criticising the BJP, the chief minister once again remarked that the party stands for ‘British Janata Party’.
The other speakers, meanwhile, said that while the Congress and communists together introduced the employment guarantee scheme, the BJP-led Union government scrapped it.
They also accused the BJP government of attempting to undermine the Constitution and dilute the rights of the poor. “BJP leaders sought 400 seats in Parliament to change the Constitution and are now making efforts to curtail voting rights of the poor through measures such as SIR,” they said and alleged that even during the Constituent Assembly debates, ideological predecessors of Golwalkar opposed granting voting rights to the poor.
They wondered how indigenous and marginalised communities will be able to produce documentary evidence and warned that without voting rights, people would lose access to ration cards, housing and pensions.
CPI state secretary Kunamneni Sambasiva Rao and other leaders were present on the occasion.