Rakesh Singha is the lone MLA of CPI(M) in Himachal Pradesh. Singh’s victory from Theog constituency in 2017 secured entry of his party to Himachal Pradesh Assembly after 24 years.
In this election, the CPI (M) has fielded candidates on 11 seats out of total 68, which includes Theog, Jubbal-Kotkhai, Kullu, Joginder Nagar, Seraj in Mandi, Shimla (Urban), Hamirpur, and Kasumpati. Singha, a two time-MLA speaks with Outlook about his party’s hope and vision for this election.
What are the issues your party and you are taking up in this election?
Everyone in the state is deprived of their rights in the time of neo-liberalism, whether it is government servants, farmers, or women. From drinking water to health, and education, every service is going into the hands of big companies. In Shimla, the government has given ownership of the drinking water in hands of a company. This company is not using drinking water to placate the thirst of people but to fill their vaults.
Educated youths who have completed engineering, and ITI diplomas, have no job. Girls who did courses in nursing are sitting at home, people are deprived of good hospitals and schools. When there were six lakh electricity meters 44 thousand workers used to be there. Now, we have 21 lakh electricity meters and only 12 thousand workers. This is because of the neo-liberal policies of the government.
Our Himachal Pradesh is known for the cultivation of apples, but these parties have destroyed it. Now input cost has increased so much that it has become a business of loss. The grants and compensation, which the government used to give to farmers, have been stopped completely.
The CPI (M) has fielded 11 candidates. How much confident you are about the future of your party?
When we are on the battlefield, we intend to win. I am a fighter; my colleagues are fighters. People have decided that they will render BJP out of power. These candidates will even lose their deposits. And the new government which will get formed will have to listen to people. People, like me, would go in a team and force these people to implement, whatever promises they have made.
Where do you think traditional parties like the BJP and the Congress failed?
They have failed in everything. They have chosen neo-liberal ways of development, which is the path of destruction. They salute capitalists. You see the struggle of new pension scheme versus the old pension scheme, big companies acquiring the public sector, and apple farmers are struggling for a fair price. People are in pain due to that.
What has the CPI (M) been doing in Himachal Pradesh? Except you there has not been any MLA from your party for over two decades in HP?
The Communist party talks about the poor and unites them. We fight for the rights of the downtrodden. You saw what farmers did. They never conceded defeat and continued the struggle, even when 733 were martyred in that struggle. Only when the Modi government accepted their demand, they went back home.
The day we come to the power; we will uproot the capitalistic order that these parties run on. They want to capture farmers’ land, monopolise everything. We won’t let this happen.
No party is talking about issues of climate change and pollution, which are going to be major issues in the future. What is your party’s stand on them?
Everything is important. But we are facing a crisis of drinking water, health and education. I will talk about them first. I am prioritising these. The issues like climate change will come later, though they are important.
