HUGE RALLY CONCLUDES CPI(M) AP CONFERENCE

“Carry Forward Heroic Telangana Struggle’s Legacy”

By Our Correspondent

THE national leaders of the CPI(M) have called upon the party cadre in Andhra Pradesh to further carry forward the heroic legacy of the Telangana armed struggle, underlining the need to redouble the efforts in that direction.

They were addressing a massive public meeting in Warangal on the concluding day of the CPI(M)’s 18th Andhra Pradesh state conference. The entire town was drenched in red – red banners, red flags, red shirt volunteers and so on. Hundreds of thousands from all parts of the state thronged Comrade Mallu Venkata Narsimha Reddy Nagar (A J Mill Grounds) for the rally. With the re-elected state secretary B V Raghavulu and CPI((M) Central Committee member Thammineni Veerabadhram and Warangal district secretary G Nagaiah in the forefront, a massive procession of red shirt volunteers and people marched through the thoroughfares of the town to the public meeting venue. Another huge procession also converged at the meeting venue even as Party national leaders had begun their speeches.

Among those who addressed the public meeting, which was presided over by G Nagaiah, were CPI(M) general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet, Polit Bureau member and West Bengal state chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Polit Bureau members Sitaran Yechury and Koratala Satyanarayana, CPI(M) state secretary B V Raghavulu, Central Committee member and Telangana struggle’s heroine Mallu Swarajyam, Central Committee members Thammineni Veerabadhram and Paturi Ramaiah, state secretariat member M A Gafoor and others.

Addressing the rally, Surjeet recalled the unparalleled leadership provided by leaders such as P Sundarayya and M Basavapunniah to the Telangana armed struggle and how it inspired the communists across the nation, including himself. He said it was not only because of such a great legacy but also due to the continuation of struggles by the Party in the state that it had earned for itself a special place in the polity. Reminding that the land issue was brought to the centre-stage with the Telangana struggle, he called upon the party cadre to continue that glorious tradition in the coming period.

Referring to the current political situation at the centre, Surjeet said that the UPA government was not in a position to continue in power without the support of the Left parties. Saying that this support of the Left was solely based on the Common Minimum Programme, Surjeet warned that if the government deviated from the CMP and continued the anti-people policies of the Vajpayee government the party would unleash a nationwide movement. He said ever since its formation, the party waged struggles on the issues of land, food and employment and that it would intensify these struggles.

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee told the huge gathering that Bengal unit of the party learnt a lot from the struggles waged by the Andhra Party. He said that the land issue thrown up by the Telangana armed struggle was taken to a successful conclusion by the Bengal Left Front which undertook massive land reforms programme. Today, more than 72 per cent of arable land in the state is owned by small and marginal farmers. This was possible because the Left Front government broke the landlords back by implementing land reforms. It had stipulated that no one can own more than 12 acres of arable land or 17 acres of non-arable land in the state. The land in excess of this ceiling was seized by the government and distributed among the poor, particularly those belonging to the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. The LF government put in place decentralised local government bodies much before the bourgeois parties began speaking of devolving powers to the local bodies, resulting in the existence of real democracy at the grassroots level. He traced the 27 year long uninterrupted rule of the LF in the state to the implementation of such policies. However, the Left Front was not content with just this much and that much more needed to be done. But since in the existing set-up, it was not possible for just a state government to go ahead and implement socialism, the state government was devising alternative policies within the limitations. These policies have brought down poverty in the state from 60 per cent to 26 per cent. He noted with satisfaction that the Left Front had been able to successfully thwart the designs of the communal forces in the state.

Buddhadeb referred to the Maoists attempts to create problems in Bengal and said that the state government was not only dealing it at the law and order level but also socio-politically. He said though Mao was a great leader, in the end he had committed mistakes, among which was the one to encourage Naxalism in our country.

Sitaram Yechury in his speech said that all those who had written off communists were today forced to acknowledge the growing clout of the Left in the nation’s affairs with the role played by the party. Referring to the separatist demands of Telangana state, Yechury called upon the people to see through the lust for power behind this demand. He contrasted this with the communists who genuinely fought for the development of Telangana by making immense sacrifices. Yechury asserted that real development of backward regions in the state would be possible only through maintaining united Andhra Pradesh. He said efforts were on both at the state and national level to further develop the unity of the Left forces through united struggles. Efforts for ideological unity were also going on, he stated. He said the CPI(M) was making serious efforts to see that people get relief with the implementation of pro-people commitments made in the CMP. And for this, the party would not hesitate to unleash mass movements, he said.

B V Raghavulu in his speech called upon all the Left parties in the state to come onto a platform to fight for the interests of the downtrodden classes and defeat the bourgeois parties. He suggested to the Maoists to reconsider their ideology and leave the individual annihilation path and join people’s struggles. He characterised the eight months long Y S Rajashekar Reddy government rule as lackluster and continuation of the Chandrababu Naidu policies. He lambasted the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) for doing nothing for the development of Telangana despite sharing power in the state and the centre. This confirmed the fears that they were merely interested in the spoils of office. Referring to the overtures being made by the TDP towards the Left, Raghavulu asserted that so long as the TDP continued its friendship with the World Bank and the BJP there was no question of any alliance with it. He criticised both the state government and the Maoists for not making efforts to continue the second round of peace talks. Real peace was possible only when both the parties discussed people’s agenda.