The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Thursday released its manifesto for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, appealing the electorate to defeat the BJP and its allies; increase the strength of the CPI(M) and Left parties in the Lok Sabha and to ensure that an alternative secular government is formed at the Centre.

The manifesto was released by CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury. He said the Lok Sabha elections are taking place at a time when the secular, democratic, Republic of India faces an “existential crisis” created by the Modi-led decade-long rule of the BJP government.

The manifesto said India witnessed a process of “systematic dismantling of the four pillars of the constitution – secular democracy, economic sovereignty, federalism and social justice.”

Misusing the levers of State power and its parliamentary majority, the Modi government has made India “one of the most unequal societies in the world even while imposing its toxic communal ideology to divide the people on sectarian lines.”

The manifesto said the elections to the 18th Lok Sabha, therefore assume critical importance as its outcome will determine if “we the people through our vote in the elections can safeguard the secular, democratic character of the Indian Republic as ordained by the Constitution of India.”

The CPI (M) stands for urgent electoral reforms to curb the use of money power in the electoral system. For this, the Party wants State funding of elections and a ban on corporate donations to political parties. Corporates must fund to strengthen democracy and such contributions must be credited in a State electoral fund and used for State funding.

The CPI (M)’s continuing commitment to the autonomous status granted by Sec 370 of J&K is reflected in its using every forum to defend the rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. The CPI (M) stands for immediate elections to the State Assembly and also for the restoration of full statehood as a first step, the manifesto said.

The CPI (M) stands for a Governor to be chosen out of a panel of three eminent persons proposed by the Chief Minister for an end to policies which promote centralization at the expense of the states.

The party has pledged to fight for an uncompromising adherence to the principle that religion is separated from politics, the State, the government and administration. It will fight for a law against hate speech and crimes and it is committed to scrapping the Citizen Amendment Act (CAA).

The manifesto said the CPI (M) stands for the scrapping of all draconian laws like UAPA and PMLA; for steps to protect and strengthen the autonomy of independent institutions, and for defence of the democratic rights of the people.

The party is committed to policies to protect India’s economic sovereignty, the manifesto said. The party holds that privatization of the public sector must be revisited and reversed.

The party has proposed a tax on the super-rich along with a general wealth tax and wants an inheritance tax must be legislated, workers’ rights reflected in pro-worker laws must replace the labour Codes. The party said food security depends on ensuring security of the farmers of India though a legal guarantee of MSP according to the Swaminathan Commission recommendations.

The CPI (M) stands for the inclusion of the Right to Work as a constitutional right. The vacancies in government and public sector posts must be filled urgently. The MSMEs can generate jobs and must be strengthened.

The budgetary allocations for MGNREGA must be doubled; a new law guaranteeing urban employment must be legislated and an unemployment allowance must be provided, the party has proposed.

The manifesto said the destruction of India’s demographic dividend must be reversed through a change in current policies of job loss growth. The Universal Right to Education must be strengthened and Privatization of Higher Education must be stopped, the manifesto said.

In the five years since the last Lok Sabha elections, the manifesto said, India also witnessed a fight back, a resistance through democratic struggles of the working people, the kisans, the workers, adivasis, Dalits, women, youth and students. Many of these struggles, in particular the historic struggle of the kisans, proved that a people united “can challenge and defeat the might and power and repression unleashed by this government.”