People's Voice has received the call of the Lok Raj Sangathan for its 4 th All India Convention. The theme of this Convention is “Building the Future - Organising for People's Power!" According to the call, the Convention will discuss crucial concerns that face the people of India today. It will focus attention on what needs to be done today in order to ensure that these concerns are addressed. It will chart the course towards achieving its aim, people’s power.

At this time, the onslaught on people's basic rights is intensifying .The resistance of different sections of the people to these attacks is growing all across the country. The UPA government has entered into a dangerous strategic alliance with the most virulent imperialist power, the United States, utterly disregarding the widespread popular opposition to this imperialist alliance. Simultaneously, it is relentlessly pursuing the liberalization of the economy and opening up every sector to the biggest Indian and foreign capitalist predators.

The political system and process which is dominated by the Congress, BJP and other bourgeois parties is crisis ridden and very discredited. . Alongside the contradiction between the ruling class and the people, there is intense contention for the seats of power, within the ruling class and amongst the different political parties serving it. Life experience shows that such parties are united in defending this system which ensures that the people have no role in it except to vote for one or another of them at every election.

On the economic front, the system is not providing for even the most basic wants of the people. Foreign and Indian monopoly finance capital is steadily expanding its domination over the Indian economy, with the single objective of maximizing profits from capital investment and speculation. The slogan of “reform with a human face”, with which the UPA government came to power, has become extremely discredited.

People are seeing clearly that the entire economy and society is oriented to serve the interests of the big monopoly capitalists. Sixty years of independence and the course of development pursued has not ensured prosperity or protection for the vast majority. People are refusing to accept these conditions any longer and are seeking an alternative.

The source of the manifold problems in Indian society today is the fact that working people do not have the political power to shape their own future, nor the right to take and implement decisions that affect our lives.

The call of Lok Raj Sangathan for its 4 th All India Convention states that “LRS works with the firm belief that the only way to guarantee rights is for the people to become the decision makers and rulers of the country. To achieve this we have to arouse more and more people to agitate for a new system and struggle against any violation of rights.” Towards this end, Lok Raj Sangathan has been working to build political organs of struggle at the base, where people live and work, It is challenging the stranglehold of the established bourgeois political parties on the system by increasing the space for people to participate in politics. It has boldly participated in the electoral process, bringing forward candidates selected by the people and uniting the people of the constituency around their concerns.

People's Voice is of the view that the central issue being addressed by the work of Lok Raj Sangathan, that of organizing for people’s power, provides the cutting edge of the struggle of all sections of the oppressed people today. People's Voice congratulates Lok Raj Sangathan for its initiatives and wishes it all success in its 4 th All India Convention.