BHUBANESWAR — Tensions boiled over in the capital city on Wednesday as hundreds of slum dwellers, under the banner of the Basti Suraksha Manch, staged a massive protest at Master Canteen Square against the forcible eviction of residents from the Niladri Vihar Transit House.

The demonstration comes in the wake of a major demolition drive on August 11, during which approximately 120 families lost their homes. Protesters alleged that the authorities initiated the drive without arranging adequate rehabilitation, leaving scores of vulnerable citizens—including young children, pregnant women, and the elderly—stranded under the open sky during peak monsoon rains.

A Struggle for Dignity and Shelter

Holding banners and raising slogans, demonstrators criticized the administration for treating the long-term urban poor merely as “encroachers.” Protesters highlighted that slum residents form the lifeline of Bhubaneswar’s informal economy as daily wage laborers, domestic workers, sanitation staff, construction workers, and street vendors.

“This is not just an issue of illegal occupation; it is a fundamental human rights issue concerning shelter, livelihood, and social dignity,” stated representatives of the Basti Suraksha Manch.

The organization also condemned recent police action, alleging that peaceful protesters were subjected to arbitrary detentions and harsh suppression.

Memorandum Submitted to BMC and Chief Minister

Following the rally, a five-member delegation met with the Deputy Commissioner of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) to hand over a formal memorandum outlining their core grievances. Parallel copies were submitted to the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) and the Housing & Urban Development Department.

The key demands placed before the administration include:

Immediate Cessation of Demolitions: An absolute ban on further evictions at Niladri Vihar without prior, proper rehabilitation.

Legal Compliance: Strict adherence to the Odisha Municipal Corporation (OMC) Act regarding land rights and proper family unit definitions.

Fair Re-verification: Transparent review processes for families previously excluded from beneficiary lists.

Dignified Housing: Provision of permanent land rights or constructed homes for all affected households.

Call for Compassionate Urban Governance

The Manch urged state authorities to abandon “bulldozer-led governance” and instead adopt a human-centric approach rooted in constitutional rights and social equity. Prominent civil rights leaders and activists—including Com Pramila General Secretary of BSM and Politiburo Member CPIMLREDSTAR, Hena (President, Basti Suraksha Manch), Narayan Lenka, Bijay Barik, Padmanabha Martha, Sanatan Ojha, Radharani Maharana, and Mayadhar Sethi—spearheaded the protest.

As of Wednesday evening, municipal authorities have acknowledged receipt of the memorandum, though an official statement regarding a pause in the eviction drive is currently awaited.

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Following the demonstration, a joint memorandum was submitted to the Deputy Commissioner (DC), Barnala, raising various demands concerning the rights and interests of farmers and workers.

The protest meeting was addressed by leaders including Chamkaur Singh of BKU Ugrahan, Manjit Singh Dhaner of BKU Dakonda, Darshan Singh Ugoke, Labh Singh Akalia of the Trade Union Centre of India (TUCI), Khushia Singh of AITUC, and other leaders.

The speakers strongly condemned the anti-farmer, anti-worker and pro-corporate policies of the Modi government and called upon farmers, workers and all democratic and progressive forces to intensify their united struggle against these policies.

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The Taxation and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026, passed by the Lok Sabha authorizes the government to go for a transaction levy/tax on Digital Payments. Though its details are yet to come out and, even as an immediate levy or tax on digital payments is not imminent, the legislation permits a Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) or service charge on digital payments like UPI (Unified Payments Interface) and RuPay in the days ahead. At the same time, according to Indian Finance Minister, the amendment will ensure the long-term financial sustainability of banking and payment infrastructure. It implies that this move on the part of the Modi government is driven by the domestic cost of running the infrastructure, and is intended for alleviating the domestic burden on banks and payment service providers.

However, this argument is not in conformity with the facts. As already noted by experts and well- meaning people, the RBI, which through the National Payments Corporation of India is regulating the UPI payments, has the financial capacity to easily manage the Digital Payments System without creating any burden for its stakeholders. For instance, during the last financial year alone, the RBI had transferred Rs 2.86 lakh crore of its surplus fund to the Central government, and a very small fraction of it is enough to maintain the entire UPI mechanism. As such, the real reason that prompted the Modi government to go for a transaction levy on digital payments is something else.

Here comes the staunch criticism raised by the United States Trade Representative (USTR) against India’s UPI and RuPay framework in its March 2026 National Trade Estimate Report that targeted India’s digital payment system for its exclusion of American giants like Visa and Mastercard from the Indian market. Revealingly, the USTR’s categorisation of India’s zero-MDR digital payment networks as foreign trade barriers against Visa and Mastercard also coincides with the ongoing US-India trade negotiations which are also biased against India. Of course, as far as the US imperialism is concerned, this is not an isolated move. Accusing Brazil’s free instant payment system, Pix, as providing preferential treatment for Brazilian stakeholders, the US even went to the extent of imposing tariffs on Brazil after Section 301 investigations. Therefore, the Modi regime’s move towards imposition of transaction levy on domestic digital payments is not prompted by national interests, but for creating level playing fields and competitive advantage for US digital and electronic companies operating in India.

In fact, when India launched the UPI in 2016, the US had established its firm roots in Indian financial markets through its debit and credit cards like Mastercard, Visa, etc. As such, treating the UPI as a localised experiment in India, its close ally and junior partner, the initial response of the US towards UPI was one of disregard with skepticism. However, the value of UPI transactions which was just ₹7000 core in the financial year 2016-17 rose to more than ₹314 lakh crore in 2025-26, becoming the world’s largest and broad-based real-time payment platform, driving out the US card intermediaries like Visa and Mastercard in the process. Now, as the Indian people have shifted to UPI transactions instead of US swipe cards, it’s the appalling loss of potential revenue to American companies and consequent US diktats that prompted the Modi regime to impose a new legislation for a transaction levy on digital payments, pushing the entire burden on common people, and paving the way for renewed entry of US companies into the Indian digital market.

No don’t, this move by Vishwaguru once again reveals how the country’s policy decisions are dictated by the US imperialist master and how the so-called ‘cultural nationalism’ acts as a cover for serving corporate capital at the expense of Indian people’s interests !

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Earlier a public meeting was held at the Puthukkad Center as part of the conference, in which Comrades M K Dasan, PN Provint and KV Purushothaman spoke. Com. N D Venu welcomed and Com A K Chandran gave the vote of thanks

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CPI (ML) Red Star Kozhikode District Conference (in Kerala) was held on 12th July at Payyoli.

The district conference started with the flag hoisting by Com. Pillerikkandi Bhaskaran. The District conference held at Comrades Edacheridasan, Radhakrishnan Palayad Nagar (Kannam Valli Hall, Payyoli, Kozhikode) by party Polit Bureau member Com Kabeer Katlat. The conference elected
presidium consisting of Comrades R K Babu and KV Hariharan and Steering Committee consisting of Comrades AM Akhil Kumar, V.A. Balakrishnan, K. Baburaj and Venugopalan Kuniyil. Minutes panel consisting of Comrades Kuttikrishnan and Ravi was also elected by the conference after the inaugural session. Distric secretary of the outgoing district committee Com Alhil Kumar presented District report. Comrades T.C. Subramanian presented the state report. The discussions on the state and district reports were led by Pilleri Kandi Bhaskaran and P.K. Balakrishnan.
T.T. Vijayan, Kuttikrishnan.K, T. Radhakrishnan and P. Sivadasan.

The district report was unanimously accepted and a new 12-member district committee was elected which elected Com. K. Baburaj as the new district secretary.

The conference elected 14 members from Kozhikode district as delegates to the state conference to be held at Vadakara on August 15, 16 and 17, ahead of the 13th Party Congress.

PB Member Com Kabeer made brief presentation of Party Congress Draft Documents and on the relevance of 13th Party Congress.

Through an important resolution, the district conference called Kerala Government to immediately stop the disastrous Tunnel Route Project. The landslide in Kallady and the subsequent loss of human lives are indications that the tunnel project extending from Kakkadampoyil to Meppadi is turning into a ‘disaster route’, and the possibility of further landslides and landslides cannot be ruled out in this extremely environmentally sensitive area, so the CPI-ML Red Star Kozhikode District Conference demanded that the government immediately withdraw from this project.

The conference also adopted resolutions such as the government withdrawing from the PM Shri scheme, taking urgent steps to stop price hikes, and immediately resolving the acute traffic problem related to the National Highway.

The conference was concluded by lowering of the party flag by the newly elected District Secretary Com K Baburaj amidst enthusiastic Communist Internationale sung by the delegates.

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Com. Fahim Sarfarosh Elected New State Secretary

The two-day 5th State Conference of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Red Star, Madhya Pradesh, concluded successfully in Sehore on July 18–19, 2026. Held under the slogan “Workers and oppressed people of the world, unite!”, the conference elected a new 7-member State Committee, which elected Comrade Fahim Sarfarosh unanimously as the new State Secretary of Madhya Pradesh. Additionally, five delegates were elected for the 13th Party Congress scheduled to be held in Raichur (Karnataka) from September 16 to 20.

Inaugurating the conference, Party Politburo member Comrade Tuhin stated that the fascist RSS-BJP regime in the country is trampling upon the rights of minorities, Dalits, and Adivasis through pro-corporate and divisive policies. He emphasized the need to strengthen the communist movement to combat this. In his welcome address, outgoing Secretary Comrade Vijay Kumar described Madhya Pradesh as the most brutal laboratory of corporate plunder, where water, forests, and land are being handed over to Adani and Ambani for a pittance. The conference deliberated upon and approved the state political-organizational report. Furthermore, in-depth discussions were held regarding the Central Committee’s draft documents, including the Party Programme, Party Constitution, the Path of Revolution, and the political resolution.

Resolutions were unanimously passed against the anti-people policies of the fascist BJP government; these demanded a halt to the corporate plunder of water, forests, and land and the conspiracy to hand over Singrauli mines to Adani, as well as the cancellation of destructive nuclear power plants and the Ken-Betwa project. A resolution was adopted to safeguard the rights of workers and farmers by demanding a legal guarantee for Minimum Support Price (MSP) based on the Swaminathan Commission recommendations, the scrapping of the four pro-corporate labour codes, and the implementation of a minimum monthly wage of ₹28,000. Furthermore, a struggle was announced against Manuvadi oppression—specifically demanding the removal of the hold on the 27% OBC reservation—and against the hike in social security pensions to ₹3,000, the exploitative imposition of smart meters on the public, and the lack of rehabilitation for those displaced by the Indira Sagar project. Immediate demands were also raised to halt fascist attacks on minorities and the unilateral “bulldozer terror,” as well as to oppose the divisive Uniform Civil Code (UCC).

The resolutions strongly demanded an immediate halt to the corporate-driven privatization, marketization, and communalization of education, and the complete cancellation of the destructive nuclear power plants being imposed in Madhya Pradesh. There was fierce condemnation of the corporate plunder of water, forests, and land—specifically regarding the Ken-Betwa Link and Ganjal-Moran projects—as well as the brutal displacement of Adivasis in the name of tiger corridors and sanctuaries, and the ongoing state repression of local populations. A firm revolutionary pledge was taken to organize a struggle against the suppression of democratic voices—citing the illegal arrest of activist Amit Bhatnagar (who led the fight against the Ken-Betwa Link project), the forced abduction of Sonam Wangchuk, and the fascist police crackdown on student movements—and to deliver a befitting response to every oppressive attack by the regime by taking to the streets.

Upon accepting this new responsibility, the newly appointed State Secretary, Comrade Fahim Sarfarosh, pledged that the new state committee would mobilize the state’s exploited and oppressed sections—including Adivasis, Dalits, women, minorities, and workers—to build a broad-based mass resistance on the streets against Sanghi fascism and pro-corporate policies. We will take the message of the Party’s General Conference to every village and settlement in the state.

Finally, Comrade Tuhin, a representative of the Central Committee, congratulated the new committee. The conference concluded with a vote of thanks by the Presidium and the singing of the revolutionary ‘Internationale’.

Yours sincerely,

Vijay Kumar
State Committee Member
CPI (ML) Red Star, Madhya Pradesh
Contact: 9981773205, 7400780480

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