Statement of the Delhi Regional Committee of the Communist Ghadar Party of India, 22 January 2025
Comrades,
Elections will be held on 5 February for the 70 seats of the Delhi Assembly. Out of the nearly 2.25 crore population of the country’s capital, there are 1 crore 55 lakh voters, of which 46 percent are women voters and 54 percent are male voters.
With the formation of the state of Delhi in 1993, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was in power for 5 years. In the period 1998-2013, the reins of Delhi were in the hands of the Congress Party for 15 years. From 2013 till now, for the last 11 years, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has been in power here. Each of these parties has promised to govern better than the other parties and solve all the problems of the people. But in these 32 years, none of the problems of the working people of Delhi have been solved; rather the problems have increased manifold.
The BJP is blaming the AAP’s “misgovernance” of the last 11 years as the root cause of all the problems of the people, while the AAP is blaming the BJP’s corruption and the Central Government for creating obstacles in the functioning of the Delhi Government, for the problems of the people of Delhi.
The life experience of the people of Delhi has shown them that no matter which party comes to power, the situation of the people of Delhi does not change, but rather it is going from bad to worse.
The attacks on the livelihood and rights of the workers are increasing day by day. The rapid privatization of public industries and services – railways, insurance, banking, transport, etc. is going on continuously. All governments have encouraged capitalist exploitation and anti-labor policies. Workers are losing their lives every day due to unsafe working conditions.
Unemployment is increasing rapidly among the youth in the age group of 15-30 years. A large number of workers are being laid off. Contract labour has now become the norm, not only in private factories and businesses, but also in government institutions and services, education, health, civil service and in every sector. Not only a large number of youth but also people above 50 years of age are forced to work as gig workers – ride sharing, food, grocery delivery – working 12-14 hours a day for very little money and risking their lives. Security guards are victims of multiple forms of exploitation. The wages of workers are falling rapidly in comparison to the rising inflation. Most workers are deprived of minimum wages and any kind of social security. Out of the total workers working in the manufacturing and service sector, there are 63 lakh workers who are not paid the legally declared salary.
A large section of the working population consists of self-employed workers, small shopkeepers, small and private businesses, fruit and vegetable vendors, rickshaw-pullers, e-rickshaw drivers etc. They face harassment on a daily basis from the police and local agencies – MCD, NDMC, DDA, and PWD. Every day, they are driven away from their place of livelihood. Their means of livelihood are forcibly taken away. They are forced to give a part of their hard-earned money as bribes. Small businessmen are getting ruined in the face of competition from the multinational companies of domestic and foreign monopoly capitalists, e-commerce companies like Amazon, Flipkart etc.
Two worlds in Delhi
A glimpse of two worlds can be easily seen in Delhi. One world, New Delhi, the area around Parliament, where the residences and government offices of MPs, ministers, judges, high officials of the army, police and administration are located, has clean roads and all modern facilities.
The other world lacks basic facilities. A large population of workers and toilers live in slums, slum colonies and rehabilitation colonies. 60 percent of Delhi’s families live in 1 or 2 room houses2. Most of this population is deprived of regular water and sewer connections. The government report shows that the houses in which most of the population lives are in a pitiable condition as per international standards. Delhi has a shortage of 54 lakh houses2. Around 50,000 people live on footpaths and in night shelters. The condition of roads and streets in the residential areas of the workers is bad. Sewage flows in open drains. Along with the problem of garbage collection, there is a total lack of cleanliness. During the rainy season, people have to face water-logging everywhere. There are a lot of stray animals on the roads and garbage bins. Delhi’s villages are also not spared from this plight. There is a complete absence of garbage disposal and hygiene in Delhi, which is harmful to people’s health. It is the government’s responsibility to provide clean drinking water to all families. There are only about 26 lakh household connections for drinking water2. This figure testifies that most of the families do not have drinking water connection. This problem has existed since before Delhi became a state, till today. Political parties extort votes from the workers, in the name of ‘repaying’ the favor of providing drinking water through ‘tankers’ or unauthorized connections. In some areas, water mafias, in connivance with political parties, extract money from people for supplying water through unrestricted exploitation of ground water.
Delhi’s public transport system is inefficient in terms of punctuality and cost. Under the DTC, there are a total of 6934 buses2 of government and private clusters. The number of buses is less than half of the population’s requirement, while the metro is an expensive transport service. Due to the lack of safe, smooth, affordable, public-friendly and efficient public transport system, people have been forced to rely on private vehicles. The lack of a good transport system has given rise to two more problems. One, pollution, most of which is due to the smoke emitted by millions of private vehicles, as a result of which Delhiites are suffering from respiratory diseases. The second major emerging problem is parking. Parks, bus stands and public places are being converted into parking lots. Safe travel is becoming difficult for pedestrians and cyclists.
Government reports show that 80 percent of the pollution in the Yamuna river water is due to outflow from sewers3. This also includes toxic effluents from industries.
The condition of the government health services in Delhi is worrying. The total number of beds declared in central, state, autonomous and government aided hospitals is 31,0302. According to the World Health Organization, Delhi needs 1,06,795 beds. Despite adding 26,656 beds2 in private hospitals, only half of the target of total beds is achieved. On the one hand, luxurious private hospitals are expanding, which are beyond the reach of workers and toilers, while on the other hand, the queues of patients are getting longer in government hospitals. There is a long waiting time to get dates for surgical operations. Beds are not available in hospitals. There is a huge shortage of doctors, health workers, medical equipment and medicines. Every day, doctors and health workers have to go on strike for their pending salaries. There are super-specialty hospitals equipped with all the facilities to show to the country and the world, but they are like a drop in the ocean. The cost of even the smallest health care in them is far beyond the reach of any working family. The Central and State governments have been shunning their responsibility of making modern healthcare accessible to the people of Delhi.
In the name of providing healthcare to the people, the governments keep announcing new schemes every day so that big capitalists can be benefited through private sector hospitals and private sector insurance companies. The contention between the Central and State governments is about schemes, not about their responsibility towards people’s healthcare.
Working families aspire for better education and a secure future for their children. Most of the children from these families get very poor quality education in government schools; the quality is declining day by day. Government and government-aided schools in comparison to the total number of schools running in Delhi are only 22.59 percent2. Expenditure on basic facilities in schools has been increased but there is still a lack of quality education. There is a rule of one teacher teaching 35 students but this is not implemented. Thousands of teacher posts are vacant. The quality of education in government schools is deliberately kept at a low level so that the players in the private sector can flourish.
Delhi is infamous in terms of women’s safety. Numerous attacks on women are evidence of this. Incidents of rape and sexual violence against women are increasing. Women have to face sexual harassment at work places. Women, children and the elderly face extreme insecurity on the roads.
The drug trade is flourishing under the protection of government agencies. The problem of drug addiction and hooliganism is increasing among the youth, as they see no future. Incidents of theft, robbery, snatching and murder are increasing day by day. People are losing their hard-earned money by falling prey to cyber crimes.
Friends,
Delhi is a rich state. The biggest share in the government’s treasury goes from the pockets of workers and toilers – in the form of GST on the goods and services used by them. According to the budget of 2024-254, the receipt from GST is Rs.340 crores. Apart from this, half the amount of petrol is collected as tax from the pocket of every fourth citizen of Delhi. One fourth is collected as tax in the purchase of cars and motor cycles. The government collects crores of rupees by selling liquor. Apart from this, a lot of the hard-earned money of workers goes to the treasury of the state of Delhi in the form of tax on earnings i.e. income tax.
Delhi’s problems can be solved and the city can be modernized and equipped with basic amenities. The government has no shortage of funds to do so, if the government’s objective is to ensure the safety and well-being of the majority of the population. But the government’s objective is to serve the interests of the big monopoly capitalists.
The root cause of all these problems is the current capitalist system. This system is based on intensifying the exploitation of workers with the aim of increasing the profits of the capitalists. The Indian state and all its political parties and institutions protect this capitalist system.
Do elections reflect the opinion of the people?
Elections held from time to time create the impression among people that this is a democracy, that people themselves choose their government and their representatives. But this is a big deception. There is great inequality in the electoral field. Parties serving the capitalists have campaign budgets of crores of rupees. They are given full freedom by the state administration to campaign on the streets and in the media. But parties and candidates fighting for the interests of workers and toilers have to run their campaigns with very little money, and they are entangled in a maze of laws. In such a situation, candidates raising the problems of the toilers have very little chance of winning.
Voters have no right to select candidates. The ruling capitalist class, through its money power, muscle power, control over the media and blatant manipulation of vote counting, ensures the electoral victory of that one among its trusted parties, that will best implement the agenda of the capitalists, while at the same time best fooling the public into thinking that this agenda is in their interest. The role of the people is limited to casting their votes. The voters have no control over the elected representatives. We can neither demand accountability from them, nor recall them if they work against our interests. The party or coalition that forms the government implements the agenda of the capitalists, no matter what was promised to the voters before the election. The parties sitting in the opposition pretend to protect the interests of the people. But when their turn comes to form the government, they too implement the agenda of the ruling capitalist class. The parties running the government change, but the agenda and policies do not change. This is the reason why despite repeated elections, there is no change in the conditions of workers, farmers and other toiling masses.
Who rules our country?
The real rulers of this country are the capitalist class, headed by about 150 big monopoly capitalist houses. The principal means of production are controlled by this ruling capitalist class. All the major political parties serve the interests of this ruling capitalist class. This is the reason why even if there is a change in the ruling party, there is no improvement in the condition of the toiling masses. BJP, Congress, and AAP – all these parties represent the interests of this ruling class.
Who has the power to take decisions?
The elected representatives represent the interests of the capitalists, not the interests of the working people. Policy decisions are taken by the Council of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister and in the case of the Delhi Assembly, by the Cabinet of the Delhi Government headed by the Chief Minister. Only the Parliament or the Assembly can make new laws. Thus, policy decisions and laws are in the interest of the capitalist class, as the people have no role in it. The workers, farmers and working people have no role in deciding how Delhi should be run, what should be its policies, laws and the direction of the economy. The economy is directed towards maximizing the profits of the capitalist class. Four labour codes are going to be implemented, under which exploitation of workers is being increased manifold and the rights of workers won through long struggles are being snatched away. Workers have been opposing the privatization of railways, banking, insurance, petroleum companies, steel plants etc., but the privatization of all these public institutions and services continues unabated. Farmers have been fighting for months for a law guaranteeing MSP for their crops. The government is turning a deaf ear to their demands as it is hell-bent on protecting the interests of domestic and foreign monopoly capitalist companies that want to dominate the agricultural trade at any cost.
To put an end to the united struggle of the workers and toiling masses in defence of their rights, the ruling class from time to time organises communal violence and caste violence on the basis of religion and caste. The BJP, the Congress Party, the AAP have all been indulging in such despicable acts and divisive propaganda.
All forms of protests have been banned in Delhi. People fighting for their rights are labeled criminals and kept in jail for years without trial under draconian laws like the UAPA. The youth who protested the state-organised communal violence in northeast Delhi in February 2020 remain in jail to-date and have been consistently denied bail.
What should we do?
We have to get out of this trap of choosing between one party or another that serves the capitalist class. The current capitalist system and the Indian state that protects it are the root cause of all our problems. All the trusted parties of the ruling capitalist class that defend it can never solve our problems.
We workers and toilers must strengthen our unity and our organisation around our common demands. We must intensify our struggles with the aim of ending this capitalist system and the rule of the capitalist class and becoming the masters of this country ourselves.
The Communist Ghadar Party of India calls upon the people of Delhi to intensify their struggles with the aim of ending the present capitalist rule and establishing in its place the rule of the workers, peasants and all the toiling and oppressed people. When the state power is in the hands of the workers and peasants, when all the principal means of production are owned by society and are not the private property of a few capitalists, then we will be able to give a new direction to the economy so that all the needs of the toiling masses can be met. We will be able to end capitalist exploitation and imperialist plunder, provide secure employment to all, provide all the facilities of modern life, end discrimination and violence on the basis of religion and caste. We will be able to protect the dignity of women. We will be able to ensure quality education and health care, security and prosperity to all. When the power to make policy decisions and laws is in the hands of the workers, then we will be able to make policies and laws to protect the interests of the majority of the society, the working people, and ensure the harshest punishment to those who violate our rights.
Come, let us carry forward our struggles to achieve the above objectives. Let us further the ongoing movement for the following political reforms:
- The right to elect and be elected should be ensured to every voter.
- The right to select candidates should be taken out of the hands of political parties and should belong to the voters.
- An elected constituency committee should be established in every constituency, which should work to enable voters to exercise all their political rights, including the selection of candidates before elections.
- No private interest, including political parties, should be allowed to spend on the election campaign of any candidate.
- The entire cost of the election process should be borne by the state. All elected candidates should be given equal opportunity to present their views to voters in the media – television channels, social media, newspapers, etc.
- Election symbols should be issued to all contesting candidates a day before the election campaign begins. Election symbols should not be reserved for any political party.
- Once people cast their votes, they should not hand over all their powers to those who are elected.
- People should have the right to make laws, approve or reject major public decisions through referendum, and recall the person they have elected at any time.
- The executive should be accountable to the legislature, and the legislature should be accountable to the voters.
Let us strengthen our unity in our struggle against the attacks on our livelihood and security! Let us build political unity of all the oppressed around the following demands:
- The policy of liberalization, privatization and globalization should be abolished.
- A modern universal public distribution system should be established. In this, grains, sugar, edible oil, pulses and all goods used by the common people should be available in sufficient quantity and of good quality. They should be available at affordable prices.
- Housing, including electricity, gas, sewer, water and all the facilities of modern life should be ensured. All residential colonies should be regularized and all the necessary facilities should be provided.
- High quality efficient public health service should be ensured for all citizens free of cost or at affordable prices.
- Good quality uniform government funded education should be ensured for all children and youth.
- Minimum wage of Rs 26,000 should be guaranteed for all workers and contract labour should be abolished.
- Legal guarantee of rights should be provided to all workers without any exception.
- Right to a decent living, monthly pension of Rs 10,000 should be guaranteed. Equal pay for equal work should be guaranteed.
- Employment guarantee should be given to all. An 8-hour working day should be ensured.
- Government purchase of all crops should be guaranteed at minimum support price.
- There should be a modern and economical transport system.
- Safety of women, girls and the elderly should be ensured.
- Space should be provided to ensure livelihood of street vendors and small shopkeepers.
- Permanent stands equipped with basic facilities should be provided for rickshaw, e-rickshaw and auto drivers.
- Strictest punishment should be given to those who organize communal violence.
- Workers should have the right to raise their voice and protest against exploitation.
- Those who raise their voice against attacks on the livelihood and rights of workers should not be made victims of state terror. All the victims of state terrorism should be given justice promptly.
Source:
- Delhi Economic Survey Report 2023-24
- Data released by the Election Commission on January 6, 2025
- Standing Committee on Water Resources Report on Delhi and Upper Yamuna Purification Project, River Bed Maintenance Summary, 6 February, 2024
- Delhi Budget 2024-25