People's Democracy

THE Delhi state unit of the CPI(M) held its 10th conference on December 10 and 11 in the Constitution Club, Rafi Marg, New Delhi. The conference began with flag-hoisting by senior state committee member Kamal Narain and floral tributes at the martyrs column by the delegates.

The conference elected a three-member presidium comprising S B Bharadwaj, Kalindi Deshpande and Brahmjit Singh for conducting the proceedings.

CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Prakash Karat inaugurated the conference, outlining the goals behind the US war in Afghanistan and laying bare the new situation caused after the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States and the latter’s so-called war against terrorism. He said it was a new phase of US efforts to consolidate its global hegemony, to co-opt or coerce opposition. He also warned of the dangers inherent in the US military presence in the subcontinent and condemned the craven attitude of the Vajpayee government towards the US.

Speaking about the national political scene, Prakash Karat made a detailed exposition of the disastrous impact of the communal and anti-people policies of the BJP-led central government. He asserted that to struggle for removal of this government from the centre is the foremost task before the Left and secular forces today. The Congress that follows the same anti-people economic policies as the BJP and compromises with communalism cannot be an alternative. The real alternative, at the current juncture, can only be one based on alternative pro-people policies. He underlined the importance of increase in the independent activities and struggles of the party as the cornerstone in expanding its influence.

107 delegates, including 18 women, attended the conference and discussed the political situation in Delhi and adjacent areas, particularly the attacks on the poor and the working people due to the anti-people liberalisation policies of the BJP-led central government and the state governments of Delhi, UP and Haryana. The conference took serious note of the continuous attempts by the BJP and the RSS to polarise the people on communal lines through their hate campaign. The conference pledged to build a powerful movement for protecting the rights of the working people and fight against all communal and fundamentalist forces.

A number of delegates from the industrial areas detailed the impact of the policies of liberalisation and globalisation on the working people of Delhi and nearby industrial areas. The past four years have seen a three-pronged class offensive against the working class and poor in Delhi and adjacent areas in the form of large-scale industrial closures and retrenchment, the demolition of jhuggis and the attempt to remove the rehri-patri-khomcha vendors and rickshaw-pullers. The central purpose of these attacks has been to drive the poor out of the capital and adjacent cities to make these the exclusive preserve of the rich. The working class has also to face the denial of minimum wages, growing contract system, hostile intervention of the administration against trade union struggles, etc.

The conference also noted the changes in the industrial scenario in the state, characterised by the decline of old labour-intensive industries and their replacement by capital-intensive enterprises, big increase in the services sector and large-scale induction of educated technical hands in the workforce. It decided to work out appropriate tactics to meet this emerging situation.

The policies of the central and state governments have adversely hit the poor in other forms as well. The public distribution system has virtually collapsed. Ration cards are not being re-issued and the chief minister of Delhi has declared that only 4 lakh BPL ration cards will be issued in Delhi. The state of government health and education facilities is dismal and the poor are increasingly denied access to both health and education, given their prohibitive costs in the private sector. Inflation is rampant. Attempts are on to privatise the power sector and other civic facilities. Distribution of power in the jhuggis and poor colonies have been handed over to rapacious contractors while the Electricity Board continues to supply power to the rich and middle class colonies, thereby underlining the governmental policies of class discrimination against the poor. The availability of civic facilities like water, electricity, sewage, sanitation and roads is heavily skewed in favour of the rich and affluent.

The lower middle class and middle class have not been spared either. Closure of small scale units in the name of pollution and Master Plan, the adverse impact of central budgets, loss of savings due to scams like the UTI-64 scandal, increase in rents, demolitions of additional constructions made in DDA flats, etc, have all impacted adversely on these sections.

The conference noted with concern the increasing anti-people role of the Supreme and High Courts reflected in their judgements on industrial closures, restrictions on processions and their intervention against the struggles launched by different sections.

The conference made a self-critical review of the work of the party and mass organisations as well as the struggles and campaigns launched by them since the last conference. It emphasised the need to enhance the initiative and intervention of the party and mass organisations as the key to expanding their work and influence. It also took note of the increase in struggles waged by different sections of the people; this points to the widespread discontent against both the central and state governments and indicates the possibilities prevalent in the situation for the party. The conference decided to centre the future activities of the party and mass organisations in industrial areas, jhuggi bastis and educational institutions, and build powerful movements on mass issues.

Despite the anti-people policies and role of their central and state governments, the BJP and the Congress continue to be the main political forces in Delhi. The conference decided to increase the independent struggles and campaigns of the party while simultaneously forging joint struggles on people’s issues alongwith other Left and non-Congress secular parties in order to effectively intervene in the political life of the state and to emerge over time as a viable alternative to both the BJP and the Congress.

The conference adopted 4 resolutions concerning the US war in Afghanistan, communalism and terrorism, attacks on women’s rights and struggle against the policies of the central and state governments.

The conference elected a 26-member state committee that, in turn, elected a 7-member secretariat consisting of Jogendra Sharma, S B Bharadwaj, Mohan Lal, Pushpinder Grewal, K M Tiwari, Mahendra Singh and Baldev Singh. The state committee elected Pushpinder Grewal as its secretary.

The conference was followed by a well-attended public meeting on December 13. Given the attack by terrorists on parliament on the same day, the meeting was kept brief and restricted to reporting the main decisions taken by the conference. It was presided over by S B Bharadwaj and addressed by Jogendra Sharma, Pushpinder Grewal and Mohan Lal.