Rangat, Jan 27: The CPI (M) Middle Andaman Area Committee organized a public meeting at Rangat Bazar on 24th January, 2026 evening.
Addressing the public meeting, K. Balakrishnan, CPI (M) Polit Bureau Member, who was on a visit to the islands to attend the meeting of State Organising Committee of CPI (M), said that US President Donald Trump has been threatening smaller countries in latin America and Asia. He has now started threatening countries like India not to purchase oil from Russia. He said that India is succumbing to the pressure of USA which will lead to sharp increase in the petroleum products in the country. He said that due to indiscriminate and unjustified import tariff imposed by USA on the imports of various products including garments from India, a large number of textile industries in many Districts of Tamil Nadu are closed down, leaving tens of thousands of people jobless.
He said that prices are increasing in the country ever since Narendra Modi came to power in 2014. Prices of LPG, petrol, diesel, etc have seen sharp increase during the last 12 years. He criticized the NDA government for dismantling the MGNREGA scheme and bringing the new scheme of VB G RAMG Scheme with the assurance of 125 days’ work. He said that the Modi government which cannot ensure 100 days mandatory job to rural poor now, cannot provide 125 days’ job in the new scheme. The dilution in the Rural Employment Guarantee scheme will lead to more poverty in the rural areas in the coming days. He came down heavily on the BJP-controlled government at the centre for repealing the existing labour laws and bringing the new four Labour Codes and said that the achievements of the working class in the country during the last one hundred years are being taken away through the Labour Codes and other anti-working class policies of this regime. He said that a kind of slavery is being imposed on the working class in the country. He called upon the workers in the islands to participate in the All India General Strike on 12th February, 2026. He also criticized the central government for the growing unemployment in the islands and denying the islanders of democratic rights by not considering the demand for a Legislative Assembly on the Puducherry model for A & N Islands.
D. Ayyappan, Secretary, CPI (M) A & N State Organising Committee while addressing the public meeting touched upon various issues concerning the islands and said that the Modi government has failed to resolve the problems of the islanders despite assurances. PK Sarkar, State Secretariat Member, Rahul Mridha, State Organising Committee Member and SR Mridha, Secretary, Middle Andaman Area Committee also spoke on the occasion. PK Khalid, State Secretariat Member was present. M. Purushothaman presided over the meeting.