People's Democracy

THE tenth state conference of the CPI(M) was held in Fatehabad (EMS Namboodiripad Nagar) on January 15 to 17, 2002. The conference was preceded by a massive rally which was presided over by Prithvi Singh Gorakhpuria, state secretariat member. Sitaram Yechuri, member CPI(M) Polit Bureau and Hannan Mollah, central secretariat member were the main speakers.

Addressing the rally Yechuri criticised economic policies of the BJP-led central government. Characterising the BJP as a communal party he condemned it for spreading the virus of communalism. He underlined the need for building a third front in which the CPI(M) and other Left parties would have a crucial role. He thus called upon to strengthen the party and its mass organisations.

Exposing the hidden agenda of the BJP-led NDA government, Yechuri remarked the RSS guided BJP is not only tearing the secular fabric of the society but is also destroying the unity, integrity and security of the country. Under the existing BJP government, he added secular education and the cultural ethos are being undermined and attempts are being made to subvert the constitution and inflict a deadly blow to the federal character of the government.

In corruption, the BJP’s record is unparalleled, Yechuri remarked. People have seen the BJP president Bangaru Laxman accepting bribe for defence purchases. The government’s involvement in the Kargil coffin scam further reflects how low it can stoop down when it comes to filling the private coffers of those who are holding important positions in the government.

Yechuri condemned terrorism. At the same time he opposed BJP’s jingoism. He suggested that the right policy in the given circumstances is to bring diplomatic pressures on the government of Pakistan. The BJP-led central government has however by abjectly surrendering before the imperialists has given space to the latter for their machinations. This is surely an anti-national approach which deserves condemnation in the strongest words.

Yechuri asserted that the Congress could not be considered as an alternative of the BJP because the former is not prepared to abandon its anti-people economic policies and continues to make compromises on communal issues from time to time. Hence the need of the hour is to strengthen the People’s Front which alone is the real alternative of both BJP and the Congress.

Addressing the rally Hannan Mollah characterised the Sangh Parivar and its political outfit the BJP as a fascist organsiation which aspires to build Hindu Rashtra on the basis of religion. This obviously is a direct challenge to the nation’s unity and integrity, its composite culture and secular character, he added. Their mischievious as well as dangerous attempts to communalise the social life however can be defeated by continuous mass struggles and the growth of the CPI(M) and other Left parties in terms of both strength and spread, Mollah remarked.

Indrajit Singh, state secretary of the CPI(M) spoke on the political scenario in the state. Among others who addressed the rally were Balbir Dahiya, Surendra Malik, Jagmati, Shraddhanand Solanki, Satbir, Phool Singh, Prakash Chander, Krishna Swarup, Harpal Singh and Jitender Pal Kaur.

The delegates session began in Saroj-Vishakha Hall after the flag-hoisting by Balbir Dahiya. Before Sitaram Yechuri formally inaugurated the delegate session, a resolution was passed condoling the deaths of comrades E M S Namboodiripad, Vinay Krishna Chaudhary, Shailen Dasgupta, M Hanumantha Rao and many others who had passed away since the last conference.

In his inaugural address to the delegate session Yechuri explained the party’s understanding of the national and international situation and the responsibilities of the members arising from it. He asserted that imperialism and its agencies are tightening their stranglehold on the third world countries. Nonetheless protest against this exploitation is becoming louder and louder at the international level. This is also providing increasing opportunities to the communists to effectively intervene into the emerging situation.

Yechuri remarked that the crisis of the capitalism is deepening and thus this system would not survive any more without recourse to increased exploitation. Due to exploitation people are feeling increasing hardships and all the four contradictions are sharpening. The contradiction between imperialism and the third world is intensifying further. Making his observations on the role of the party, Yechuri remarked that the CPI(M) is a revolutionary party which attempts to tilt correlation of forces in favour of the working class by its effective intervention in the national matters on the basis of objective analysis of the concrete reality. In this exercise it is assisted by the scientific and revolutionary ideology of Marxism-Leninism.

Presently the organisational and political strength of the party is less than its potential. It is thus really imperative that the organisational strength of the party grows. In order to realise this objective, the members of the party must attach great importance to struggles on economic as well as social issues. From this process a Left democratic alternative would emerge. The party’s struggle against communalism and imperialism is necessary to protect the heritage of the national movement. Yechuri asserted that these efforts would eventually pave the way for the people’s democratic revolution.

The four member presidium to conduct the proceedings of the conference was elected after the inauguration. Shraddhanand Solanki, Suba Singh, Jagmati and Ram Kumar Bahabalpuria constituted the presidium.

State secretary Indrajit Singh presented both his report and the draft political resolution. The report highlighted major national and international events and trends to provide a perspective for analysing the concrete reality in the state. The report pointed out how the liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation policies implemented at the dictates of the World Bank, IMF and WTO are adversely influencing the economy of Haryana. The economic prosperity resulting from the green revolution seems to be waning. The agriculture is now deep into the crisis and dairying and poultry farming have a bleak future. As a result the burden of debt on the peasants continues to grow and the agricultural workers lacking employment find themselves on the brink of starvation.

Over the years large-scale industrial units were not set up in the state and small-scale industries have now been caught in a serious crisis due to irrational economic policies of the government. Common people’s accessibility to education and health services has greatly diminished on account of their commercialisation. In recent years the law and order situation has fast deteriorated and the incidence of heinous crimes has increased.

The state secretary’s report making its observations on social and cultural scene in Haryana stated that the feudal value system, casteism and patriarchal norms are strong. Hence, dalits and women still suffer blatant oppression on an extensive scale. The problem of female foeticide has assumed an alarming proportion. While all these problems are simply ignored by the major political parties in Haryana, the third front alternative has not emerged as yet in a viable form. The pre-condition for this alternative is that the CPI(M) grows in strength and becomes a rallying point.

After incorporating various suggestions made by the delegates the state secretary’s report was adopted unanimously. 31 delegates participated in discussion on the draft political resolution.

Surender Singh, member state secretariat presented political-organisational report which highlighted the people’s struggles conducted by the party in the state. It also described the interventions made by the party at political and social levels during the struggles on various issues. The report particularly underlined the qualitative changes that occurred in the party organisation on account of its involvement in people’s struggles. The report also provided scope for discussion on a number of issues including training of branch secretaries, possibilities of developing district committees, breaking inertia of the members and party literature.

Rajkumari placed the credentials report. Some of the highlights were as follows:

Of the 178 delegates and observers, 16 were women. In terms of class background 29 delegates were from working class, 8 agricultural workers, 25 marginal peasants, 32 middle peasants, 3 rich peasants and 67 middle class.

In terms of social background 23 were Dalits, 1 Muslim, 15 Sikhs and 3 linguistic minorities.

97 delegates had gone to jail at one time or the other. 23 delegates were wholetimers.

Agewise 76 delegates were below 40 years, 87 were in the age group 41-60 and only 11 were above 60 years.

4 delegates had joined the party before 1964, 18 between 1964-1976, 51 between 1977-1985, 69 between 1986-1995 and 31 after 1995.

In terms of education 2 were illiterates, 77 had education upto junior school or higher secondary level, 67 were graduates or post graduates, 20 were having degree in engineering, medicine or law and 8 were Ph Ds in different disciplines.

On the last day of the conference 29 members state committee was elected unanimously. Indrajit Singh was elected secretary. The state secretariat of nine members was also elected. It included Balbir Dahiya, Prithvi Singh Gorkhpuria, Surendra Singh, Krishna Swarup, Shraddhanand Solanki, Prakash Chandra and Virendra Singh Malik.

The three member control commission was also constituted. Dr Surajbhan was elected its chairman.

During the conference Hannan Mollah released the 2002 calender printed by Saroj-Vishakha Memorial Women Organisation in the memory of Comrade Saroj Vashishtha and her daughter Vishakha.

The conference was concluded in the afternoon of January 17. In his concluding speech Hannan Mollah said that from the proceedings of the three day conference he was convinced that the party in Haryana has reached the take-off stage. It is fully aware of the problems that it may face in the process of growth. Haryana is a complex society. Therefore no formula will be equally effective in all cases. This would require analysis of concrete reality in each case to make advances in the state.

Making reference to the working of the People’s Front Mollah remarked that vis-à-vis our enemy the strength of the party is less. Therefore, the party must take advantage of the inner contradictions of the enemy and join hands with all those who are willing to cooperate with us on different issues. Underlining the importance of mass organisations Hannan Mollah asserted that the party recruits cadre mostly from the mass organisations. Therefore growth of mass organisations contributes in a big way to party’s expansion and growth. The party members must realise that the mass movements strengthen mass organisations which in turn leads to growth of the party.