New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government must immediately implement its election promise of announcing a Minimum Support Price (MSP) of one-and-half times the production cost as also a loan waiver for farmers, the CPI-M said on Monday.
The party demanded "a special central legislation" making it compulsory for the governments to buy farmers' produce at the MSP, and also withdrawal of the hike in fuel prices.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist's politburo that met on Monday also discussed issues of price rise due to fuel price hike, attacks on media persons, police lathicharge on Banaras Hindu University (BHU) female students and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's (RSS) attack on Left parties, while hailing the "struggles by various sections of people".
It also called upon the people "who are suffering due to the devastating economic policies of the Modi government" to join protests in a big way.
"The Modi government has yet again hiked fuel prices when the international oil prices are showing a remarkable decline. But instead of passing the benefits to the people, the government has hiked excise duty to the tune of 125 per cent," the CPI-M said in a statement after the meet.
"A vast majority of people will suffer from the cascading inflationary impact of rise in fuel prices."
Condemning the continued attacks on progressive intellectuals and journalists, the party called for intensified protests against the murderous attacks.
"The CPI-M strongly deplores the threats being given to journalists by various RSS-affiliated Hindutva outfits and calls upon the concerned governments to ensure that freedom of expression and the rights of the media are not curtailed," it said.
"The Politburo strongly condemns the unprovoked police attack on girl students of Banaras Hindu University who were protesting against sexual harassment. This is part of the attacks on institutions of higher learning all over the country by the RSS-BJP governments. The Vice Chancellor should be immediately removed," it said.
The politburo also discussed the Draft Political Resolution for the 22nd Party Congress. This will now be taken to the Central Committee at its meeting from October 14 to 16.