CNN Central News & Network-ITDC India Epress/ITDC News Bhopal: An important meeting of the Democratic Rights Front (DRF), Madhya Pradesh, was held today at the state office of the Gondwana Gantantra Party in Bhopal. Representatives of various political parties and social organisations discussed in detail the state’s current political and social situation, increasing attacks on democratic rights and constitutional institutions, social justice, secularism, freedom of expression and the basic issues concerning the people.
To run the Front’s work in an organised and effective manner, a coordination committee and office-bearers were formed unanimously. Kamlesh Tekam, state president of the Gondwana Gantantra Party, was unanimously elected state convener. Monu Yadav, state president of the Rashtriya Janata Dal; Vijay Kumar, state in-charge of CPI-ML Red Star; Anand Shyam, state president of the Rashtriya Gondwana Party; Ratanlal Batham, representative of the Samajwadi Party; and Mahendra Rao, state president of Malwa Congress, were given responsibility as co-conveners. K. K. Mahaur, state president of the Indian Inclusive Party, was elected treasurer; Vijay Kumar was elected spokesperson; Ashok Singh Baghel, state president of Rashtriya Samaj Paksha, was elected co-spokesperson; and Samadhan Patil of Rachnatmak Congress was chosen as media and social media in-charge.
The meeting unanimously decided that a massive public meeting will be organised in Jabalpur on November 22, 2026. The public meeting will be a joint initiative of various political and social forces. Through it, a strong common people’s voice will be raised in the state by linking the everyday livelihood issues of the people with the broader struggle for democratic rights and social justice. As part of preparations for the public meeting, public outreach, meetings, public dialogues and campaigns on local issues will be conducted in various districts of the state.
The public meeting will prominently raise the main issues of the state’s working people, deprived sections and ordinary citizens. These include demands for conducting a caste census and releasing accurate figures for backward classes; strict implementation of the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution, the PESA law and the Forest Rights Act, 2006; and intensifying the struggle against corporate control over water, forests and land, illegal evictions and displacement. The issues to be raised will also include the right to land and housing for landless Dalits, Adivasis and the poor; remunerative prices for farmers’ crops and debt relief; dignified minimum wages and social security for workers; permanent employment for youth; and a halt to the privatisation of education, health and public sector undertakings. The public meeting will strongly demand an end to violence and oppression against women, Dalits, Adivasis and minorities; protection of the democratic right to expression and dissent; an end to repression against protesters; and restoration of transparency in EVMs as well as the autonomy and accountability of all constitutional institutions, including the Election Commission.
The meeting underlined the conclusion that in Madhya Pradesh, it is a historic necessity of the present time to link the separate struggles being waged by various classes and communities with the broader struggle for democracy, the Constitution, social justice and people’s rights. The Democratic Rights Front will carry forward continuous dialogue and joint action among various political and social streams in this direction.
The Front appealed to all democratic political parties, mass organisations, farmer-worker organisations, student-youth and women’s organisations, Adivasi-Dalit-minority groups, civil rights platforms and people’s movements in the state to actively participate in making the November 22 Jabalpur public meeting successful and in building a broad democratic front.
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