On the 18th Lok Sabha Elections:
The existing system is a brutal dictatorship of a super-rich minority

Statement of the Central Committee of the Communist Ghadar Party of India, 30 Mar 2024

Following the announcement of the dates of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, people all over the country are being bombarded by the lying propaganda of rival parties of the ruling class.

The BJP, at the head of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), and the Congress Party, heading the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), are both promising to serve the interests of workers, peasants, women and youth. The reality, however, is that both these parties, as well as most of their allies, are parties of the bourgeois class.  They regularly receive crores of rupees from capitalist companies. Whenever they are in charge of the government, at the state or central level, they make policies and laws in the interests of their capitalist financiers. They grant them licences and profitable contracts.

Every day there is news that this or that politician has moved from one bourgeois party to another, from the INDIA alliance to the NDA or the other way around. Such defections show that these parties represent the same class interests. How can people trust such candidates?

The way different alliances are being broken or stitched together show that there is no fundamental difference of ideology or aims among these parties which are fighting for power.

The so-called choice in front of the people is a fraud. We are asked to choose which party of the ruling class must oppress and deceive us for the next five years.

Lok Sabha elections held during the past 75 years have led many times to a change of party at the helm. However, they have never led to any change in the capitalist orientation of the economy and the class character of political power.  Year after year, super-rich monopoly capitalists have grown enormously richer. Workers and peasants have faced ever intensifying exploitation, growing indebtedness and misery. Sexual harassment of women is rampant. So is caste-based discrimination and oppression.

While spokesmen of the ruling class boast about India’s economic growth, the gap between the rich and the poor has reached an unprecedented level. Unemployment among the youth is higher than ever before.

Those in power repeatedly organise violence on a mass scale, targeted against people of a particular religion, caste or tribal community, so as to destroy the unity of the people against their oppressors. Those who organise such violence enjoy state support. The organisers of communal terror are not punished, while the victims are persecuted. Those who raise their voices against injustice are thrown into jail and kept there indefinitely. Draconian laws such as the UAPA and AFSPA permit the brutal violation of people’s rights in this so-called largest democracy of the world.

During every round of elections, people are made to believe that this is the world’s most populous democracy and that people decide who should rule. The reality is this is not the rule of the people. It is a system of rule by an exploiting minority.

The outcome of elections in the existing system is not actually decided by the masses of people who vote.  It is decided by the bourgeois class. Capitalists use their money power, control over the media, influence over the courts and various forms of manipulation of voter lists, EVMs and the counting of votes. They organise the victory of that party which can most effectively fool the people while implementing their self-serving program.

In 2004, the ruling class organised the replacement of the BJP by the Congress Party. In 2014, the Congress Party was replaced by the BJP. Throughout this period, the program of globalisation, through liberalisation and privatisation, has remained unchanged.

The fact that most TV news channels are predicting another resounding victory for the BJP shows that there is an influential section of the bourgeoisie which wants to continue with the present arrangement, with Prime Minister Modi at the head.

The decision of the Supreme Court to declare the Electoral Bonds scheme unconstitutional shows that there is also an influential section of the bourgeoisie which wants to replace the BJP with an alternative arrangement, in order to prevent further discrediting of Indian democracy.

Whether the NDA or the INDIA alliance forms the next government, the rule of the bourgeoisie will remain intact. The gap between a super-rich minority and the vast majority of working people will continue to widen.

The Communist Ghadar Party of India firmly believes that the workers, peasants, women and youth must safeguard their unity in the face of the divisive tactics of the bourgeoisie. We need to wage the struggle for our immediate demands with the aim of becoming the rulers of the country.

When British colonial rule came to an end in 1947, our people hoped that it would lead to liberation from all forms of exploitation and oppression. These hopes have been dashed to the ground because political power was transferred into the hands of the Indian bourgeoisie.

The Constitution that was adopted in 1950 is designed to perpetuate the system of exploitation and oppression that the British rulers left behind. It is designed to maintain the Indian bourgeoisie in power, while the toiling majority of people remain powerless in the face of ever intensifying exploitation and oppression.

The times are calling for a clean break with the existing system. The workers and peasants who produce the wealth of India can and must become her master. We must establish and develop a new system of workers’ and peasants’ rule, in which the rights of all human beings are protected, without exception.

We must establish a new Constitution which vests sovereignty in the people. The ministers who wield executive power must be accountable to the elected legislative body and all elected representatives must be accountable to the electorate.

It is essential to put an end to all forms of capitalist funding of election campaigns. In the new system, all those who vote must have a say in selecting the candidates for election. The State must finance the entire process of selection of candidates and the election campaigns of the selected candidates. People must have the right to hold elected representatives to account and to recall them at any time if they do not serve our interests. We must have the right to propose or reject laws and policies.

With political power in our hands, workers and peasants will be able to take control of the means of production and reorient the economy to ensure secure livelihood and prosperity for all. Only then will the longstanding aspirations of the Indian people be fulfilled, for complete liberation from all forms of exploitation and oppression.

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