People's Democracy

18TH STATE CONFERENCE OF THE TAMIL NADU CPI(M)

Overcoming Tsunami Havoc,

They Made The Conference All Success

A A Nainar

Abdul Wahib hoisting the Party flag

ONE could not just believe how swift the district could overcome such a devastating natural disaster, which played havoc in the lives of thousands of innocent people living in its coastal areas, and host a state conference of the CPI(M) so enthusiastically without any small inconvenience. The tsunami waves of December 26, 2004 claimed the lives of more than 800 people in Nagercoil district. Many villages were reduced to rubbles and thousands of families rendered homeless. Almost all families, in places where the killer waves had struck, had at least one loss of life and in many cases the entire family perished. For day and night CPI(M) members were camping in the affected areas and attending to the rescue and rehabilitation work, mobilising all its resources to meet the tragedy. From December 26, 2004 to February 3, 2005 – hardly 40 days – the remarkable courage and determination with which the Party comrades had risen to the occasion to hold the conference was indeed marvellous. They fulfilled their commitment made earlier of holding the state conference. Not only the Party members and leaders but the entire reception committee and the people of the district deserve all praise for successfully conducting the 18th state conference of the CPI(M) from February 3 to 6, 2005. 

A Abdul Wahab one of the senior most leaders of the party hoisted the Party flag marking the start of the 18th state conference. The flag hoisting was conducted near the clock tower junction, the heart of the city of Nagercoil. It was followed by a ceremony to pay respects to the specially erected column in memory of those who had lost their lives due to the tsunami tragedy. The delegates and observers went in procession to “E K Nayanar Ninaivarangam”, the venue of the conference situated in “K Muthaiah Nagar” in Nagercoil city.

INAUGURAL SESSION

D Mani, MLA welcomed the gathering. While doing so he elaborately narrated the struggles conducted by the people of the district during the independence struggle as well as in the progressive movements later. He recalled the contributions made by Comrades Elango, Jeevananthan and Divakaran. He recalled the help and support received unsolicited from various quarters for the successful conduct of this conference. Mani also recalled the contributions made by J Hemachandran MLA, A V Bellarmin, MP and Noor Mohammed district secretary of the Party, as the prime functionaries of the reception committee, for making this conference a grand success.

CPI(M) Polit Bureau member, Prakash Karat inaugurated the four-day conference. While extending warm greetings on behalf of the Party central committee, he explained the current political situation prevailing in the country on the basis of the central committee’s assessment and the draft political resolution for the 18th Party Congress that is being circulated amongst the Party cadre throughout the country. He exhorted the Party members to continue the struggle against communal forces, which were trying to stage a comeback after its defeat in the Lok Sabha elections and Maharashtra assembly elections. He explained in detail the attitude adopted by the CPI(M) towards the UPA government. While answering the question of who will be responsible for the stable tenure of the UPA government, Karat said  “the UPA government completing its full term depends on their (Congress) seriousness to implement the pro-people policies enumerated in the Common Minimum Programme. They must realise that they are heading a coalition government supported by the Left parties from outside. They must make serious efforts to correct the past mistakes of the NDA government and undo all damages done in the economic, social and cultural life of the people. In order to make the UPA government take these measures, mass movements of the people are needed. The past nine months of our experience with the present UPA government indicates this.”

The role of the Congress party came in for sharp criticism in his address in the context of their continuing the same economic programme adopted by the erstwhile NDA government. He added that the CPI(M) would conduct serious struggles mobilising wider section of the masses for implementing the pro-people commitments given in the Common Minimum Programme. The struggle against the UPA government would demand for implementation of a non-aligned/independent foreign policy, he added.

POL-ORG REPORT

N Varadarajan, secretary of the state committee presented the political-organisational work report in front of the conference in the forenoon session of February 3. The deliberations on the report went on for about eight and a half-hours spreading over two days. A total of 89 delegates participated in the discussion, of whom 16 were women. All delegates generally welcomed the report, with many offering various suggestions for its improvement. The work report was adopted unanimously after a summing up by the secretary.

CPI(M) general secretary, Harkishan Singh Surjeet was given a tumultuous welcome when he arrived in Nagercoil on February 2 to take part in the conference. He greeted the conference in the afternoon of February 3, 2005. Party Polit Bureau members, P Ramachandran and R Umanath also greeted the conference.

CPI(M) central committee member, T K Rengarajan moved the political resolution, which gave a clarion call to oust the anti-people Jayalalitha government from power. It also outlined the immediate tasks of the Party, particularly the immediate movements to be launched against communal forces and for implementation of the pro-people economic programme by the UPA government.

The conference elected a new state committee consisting of 80 members, of whom 8 are women. And it was decided to invite comrades G Veeraiyan, V Thambusamy and Mythily Sivaraman as special invitees to all the state committee meetings. It also elected a new four-member state control commission headed by K Durairaj. The conference then elected a 49-member delegation for the ensuing 18th Party Congress. The highlight of these elections was that all these were unanimous.

K Varadarajan, another central committee member, presided over the first meeting of the newly elected state committee which unanimously re-elected N Varadarajan as state secretary for the second consecutive term. It was also decided to elect the new secretariat after the 18th party Congress to be held in New Delhi shortly.

W R Varadarajan, one more central committee member, also attended the entire conference. The secretary of the reception committee, Murugesan proposed the vote of thanks while newly elected Party state secretary N Varadarajan profusely thanked and congratulated all those who worked for the success of the conference. 

CREDENTIALS REPORT

A total of 609 delegates and 27 observers participated in the conference. Of whom men were 560 while women were 76. As for the age profile of the delegates, there were 29 in the age-group of 18-25 years, 81 in 26-35, 102 in 36-40 and the highest 200 in 41-50 years group. Another 181 belonged to 51-60 group while 34 fell in 61-70 and 9 delegates were aged 71 years and above. The eldest delegate was N Sankaraiah who is aged 83 years.

Those delegates who joined the Party before 1964 were 17 in number, those between 1964-1975 were 142. The highest number of delegates – 237 – joined the Party between 1976-1985 and 206 delegates joined between 1986-1995. Those delegates who joined the Party after 1996 numbered 34.

As for jail life, 12 delegates were jailed for a period of 6 months to 1 year, 10 for 1 to 3 years and 4 for 3 to 5 years. One delegate was jailed for more than 5 years.

213 delegates studied upto 10th standard, 173 upto 10+2, 54 were diploma and ITI certificate holders while 109 delegates studied upto graduate level and 87 upto post graduate level. As for the social composition of the delegates, 222 delegates came from working class background, 159 from poor peasant, 104 from middle class. 57 delegates came from agricultural worker families while 11 from small businessman, 8 from rich peasant and 4 from landlord families.

9 delegates came into the Party from the Progressive Writers front, 47 from kisan and agricultural workers front, 55 from women, 118 from student, 157 from youth and the highest 177 from the trade union front. 73 delegates joined the Party directly.