People's Democracy

CALL OF THE 12TH STATE CONFERENCE OF HIMACHAL CPI(M)

Unleash Struggles & Build An Alternative

  Tikender Singh Panwar

THE 12th state conference of the Himachal Pradesh CPI(M) state committee, held on December 10-12 in Shimla resolved to launch struggles and build a powerful movement. It stressed the need to project an alternative to the discredited policies of the ruling parties and build a political alternative to both the BJP and the Congress in the state.

The conference began at 6 pm in the evening of December 10, in Comrade Roshan Lal Hall, named after one of the founder leaders of the Party in the state. A three member presidium comprising of Kashmir Singh, Prem Gautam and Kushal Bhardwaj conducted the proceedings of the conference. Kushal Bharadwaj placed the condolence resolution.

Inaugurating the conference, Sitaram Yechury in an educative note asked the delegates to understand the objective basis of imperialist globalisation. He pointed out that the process of globalisation has not been set in due to the subjective factor of imperialism that it wants to loot the third world nations. Rather it is the very organic nature of the capital, which produces surplus value through the exploitation of labour, that is driving this imperialist globalisation process. He also underscored the fact that howsoever benevolent a capitalist may be, the system remains exploitative. Hence the only alternative to the present exploitative order remains socialism, asserted Yechury.

Referring to the national political situation, he stated that no illusions must be kept in mind regarding the incumbent government. The forces of Left have to launch struggles to see that minimum benefits are extracted from the central government. On the organisational aspect, he asked the delegates to “bridge the gap between your competence and actual work.”  Referring to the high percentage of educated cadres found in the state in relation to any other state, Yechury called upon the Party to properly utilise this qualitative gain for the growth of the movement.

GEN-SEC REPORT

Rakesh Singha, the officiating secretary of the Party placed the report of the state committee. The report had five parts – political situation; socio-economic situation of the state; work report; party organisational review report; and future tasks.

The political part of the report stressed the need to build an alternative to both the BJP and the Congress in the state. The Congress regained power after the people defeated the BJP, which was a staunch champion of IMF-World Bank prescribed economic policies. The report highlighted the fiscal crisis being faced by the state, with more than Rs 15,000 crore debt, and held both the BJP and the Congress responsible for this situation. It pointed out that if the immense resources possessed by the state are properly tapped, the fiscal crisis could be overcome easily. However, successive governments have failed to do that. The report stressed the need to project an alternative to the present policies.

The incumbent government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) under the dictates of the IMF with the central government, which is detrimental to the people of the state. As per this MoU all the existing vacancies of more than 35,000 government posts shall be scrapped. An annual reduction of 2 per cent in government jobs would be undertaken; subsidies in the field of agriculture and education would be withdrawn, and user charges on various services are to be collected. Already the government has taken a decision to withdraw the pension to the employees of boards and corporations. It is in this background that the report has stressed upon the need to launch struggles and build a powerful movement in the state against these policies.

The socio-economic part of the report highlighted the dwindling land holding per family in the state. More than 85 per cent of the population has less than 0.5 hectare of land. Hence agriculture is not the only source of income for the survival of the peasantry. The services sector had contributed a lot to the state’s GDP. But now with the withdrawal of state from this sector, conditions are going to worsen for the people, noted the report.

The part on Party organisation was very critical about the functioning of the Party in the state and laid stress for improvement in the functioning of the state centre.

In all 32 delegates took part in the discussion. In a healthy atmosphere criticism was made about the functioning of the state committee. The crux of the discussion was to unleash struggles and build a people’s alternative in the state. Specifically the issue of atrocities on dalits was highlighted and the methods for intervening were sought.

The conference passed a total of 10 resolutions. The subjects of these resolutions included the economic demands of the state, on unemployment, against imperialism, against communalism, against MoU, against atrocities on dalits, on problems of the tribals, on women, on environment etc. They were adopted with a few amendments.

CREDENTIALS REPORT

Rahul placed the credentials report. The highlights of it are as follows:

Total delegates -187,

Male - 170, Female - 17

The largest number of delegates was in the age group of 31 to 40 years.

The youngest delegate was Vanita and Kapil from Shimla

The oldest delegate was Ram Asray from Una. His age was 75 years.

Nobody was an illiterate. Eight were holding the degree of doctorate while 55 were post-graduates.

As for the social composition, 18 were from the scheduled castes and 9 from scheduled tribals with 17 OBC’s and 4 from minorities.

The largest number of delegates were employees – 55, followed by peasants - 47, and then professional revolutionaries - 35.

The largest delegation was from the TU front - 82.

The maximum number of delegates joining the party was post-1990.

Comrade Ram Asray and Dr P R Pathania had joined the party in 1957 and 1950 respectively.

Out of the total delegates the largest number comprised local committee members.

As far as cases registered in the last three years was concerned, more than 40 delegates reported that cases were filed against them during the struggles. The largest were on Vijender Mehra - 21.

The maximum jail period was of Rakesh Singha (5 years) followed by Dr Vijay Kaushal (2.5 years) and more than 37 delegates had been to jail in the cause of the people.

NEW LEADERSHIP

A new state committee of 25 members was elected unanimously by the conference with Rakesh Singha as the new state secretary. The committee also elected 7 members to the state secretariat, comprising of Rakesh Singha, Mohar Singh, Kashmir Singh, Amar Singh Raghwa, Kushal Bhardwaj and Tikender Singh Panwar. Mohar Singh could not continue as secretary because of ill health.

Also a three member State Control Commission was elected with D K Singh as the chairman.

Kuldeep Singh Ghuman, erstwhile member of the state secretariat was relieved from the state committee due to his transfer of membership to Punjab.

Addressing the conference in the valedictory session, W R Varadarajan said that there is ample scope for the Party to grow in the state. And for this he stressed the need to increase the number of wholetimers so that proper planning and implementation of the tasks can be done. Regarding meeting the ideological challenge, Varadarajan said every Party functionary must inculcate self-study. He further stated that the slogan of TINA (There Is No Alternative) being advocated by the imperialist culture has to be challenged by SITA (Socialism Is The Alternative). On the national situation he said that the only way to grow further in the present time is by unleashing mass struggles. On the organisational part he stated that the Party must grow further in the state and as the growth has been witnessed in Shimla and Mandi, the other districts must also be targeted for expansion.

THE RALLY

Earlier, on the opening day of the conference, December 10, a massive public meeting was held in Shimla. Right amidst the icy winds from the Himalayas, with the slogans ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ renting the air and the will in the hearts of the comrades to build the new world providing warmth, thousands thronged the venue.

The rallyists gathered in the panchayat bhavan near the bus stand of Shimla town. The mobilisation for the rally was done from the neighbouring areas and some token participation was also there from other districts as well. Thousands of activists marched from panchayat bhavan through the Ram Bazar and Lower Bazar and reached Subzi Mandi ground, where the public meeting was held.

Sitaram Yechury, Polit Bureau member of the Party was the main speaker of the rally. In his inspiring address he said that those who have been trumpeting the end of socialism and communists must see this large gathering of people carrying red flags in the tiny capital of Shimla. Touching upon large number of international and national issues, Yechury laid stress upon the immense challenges that the working class and its vanguard, the Communist Party face today.

On the national situation he stressed that those who ridicule the CPI(M) that it is not prepared to share the responsibility and still wants to have power must know that it is actually vice versa – CPI(M) is sharing responsibility without power. On the political question, he stressed the working class must identify the true political representation. Red flag for struggle and some other flag to vote for would not do any help.

Among others who spoke were W R Varadarajan, central committee member of the Party, Rakesh Singha, former MLA of Shimla, Kashmir Singh Thakur member of state secretariat of the Party. Professor M K Sharma the chairperson of the reception committee also spoke on the occasion.