People's Democracy

THE delegates session started with the CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Prakash Karat moving the political resolution on March 19 afternoon. Besides an analysis of the international and national developments that have taken place since the last congress, the resolution also laid out the political line and direction of the party for the next three years.

Introducing the political resolution, Karat underscored the need to develop a non-Congress, non-BJP political alternative by uniting the Left, secular and democratic forces, and termed the formation of the Lok Morcha as a welcome step in this direction. He also said the development of a Left and democratic alternative was the need of the hour to fight against challenges to our sovereignty and national unity and to defend the rights of the working masses and further their interests. He underlined that this required strong Left unity and, more than that, a massive increase in the independent strength and influence of the party. These objectives can be accomplished only by massive and sustained struggles on the burning issues affecting the people’s lives.

Sitaram Yechury, another member of the Polit Bureau, then placed a report on the 5,218 amendments and 839 suggestions received by the Central Committee before the congress. He explained about the 350 amendments sent by party members and units, which had been accepted by the Central Committee.

The discussion on the draft political resolution began on March 20 morning and continued till March 21 evening. Spread over three sessions, full nine hours were allotted for the discussion. In all, 43 delegates from various states freely and frankly participated in the discussion. These were Gautam Deb, Asim Dasgupta, Mridul De and Shyamali Gupta (West Bengal), T N Thomas, V V Dakshinamurti, K K Shailja and K Chandran Pillai (Kerala), Bhanulal Saha, Jiten Chaudhury and Rama Das (Tripura), K Balakrishnan, U Vasuki and Gunasekharan (Tamilnadu), Monoranjan Talukdar and Anant Deka (Assam), M V Sharma and J Venkaiah (Andhra Pradesh), Kishore Thekedath and Mahendra Singh (Maharashtra), Tapan Sen, P Patnaik and P Krishnaprasad (Central Units), Vijay Mishra and Raghunath Singh (Punjab), S S Naik (Goa), B Sanyal (Chhattisgarh), Avtar Sadiq (UK), Mohanlal (Delhi), Arun Kumar Mishra and Sarvodaya Sharma (Bihar), Sarat Salam (Manipur), Ali Kishore Patnaik (Orissa), Rajendra Singh Munda (Jharkhand), Vasudev (Rajasthan), Arun Mehta (Gujarat), Vijay Rawat (Uttaranchal), Rakesh Singha (Himachal Pradesh), O N Trishal (Jammu & Kashmir), Badal Saroj (Madhya Pradesh), J V Sriniwas Reddy (Karnataka), S P Kashyap (Uttar Pradesh), and Shubha (Haryana).

The participants enriched the resolution with their invaluable experiences of struggles against communalisation, against destructive economic policies and against the US attempts to impose its hegemony over the entire world. The question of the deepening agricultural crisis, which is directly related to the baneful effects of policies of globalisation, attracted special attention during the discussion. Delegates from Kerala and some other states emphasised that this crisis is not limited to the decline in the prices of agricultural commodities. As a result of the policies of liberalisation, it has sucked the entire agricultural economy dry. These delegates emphasised the need for strengthening and defending the PDS-procurement price set-up as it performed the dual objective of providing a minimum support price to the peasantry and making the commodities available to the consumers at reasonable prices. The need for Food for Work programmes on a massive scale was also emphasised. It was realised, and brought forth during the discussion, that this generates immense and unique possibilities for organising the masses against the present globalisation policies that favour the imperialist capital. This mobilisation can help bring about an important change in the alignment of political forces. It was pointed out later in the discussion that though this crisis has engulfed all sections associated with agriculture, it is the rural poor and landless labourers who have been the hardest hit. Hence, to fight against the deepening agricultural crisis, an enduring broader unity in the agrarian sector can be developed only by keeping these sections at the core.

The congress separately accepted a resolution on the deepening agricultural crisis. The resolution was moved by Benoy Konar, leader of All India Kisan Sabha, and seconded by Honan Mollah, leader of the All India Agricultural Workers Union.

During the discussion, many delegates, particularly from Hindi-speaking states, drew attention to the Sangh Parivar’s campaign of communalisation and saffronisation of different sectors. Many delegates pointed to the danger of saffronisation of education, media, bureaucracy, institutions and bodies of the administration and its repressive arms such as the police and army, and underlined that this danger does not recede with a reduction in the votes polled by the BJP. While the delegates emphasised the need of struggles on all these fronts, they drew attention especially to the state-sponsored genocide of the minorities in Gujarat after the Godhra incident and the RSS statement from Bangalore that the Muslims cannot live without the goodwill of the majority community. An amendment to update the political resolution by including the recent events in Gujarat and open RSS threat was accepted.

The congress accepted three separate resolutions --- one on the Ayodhya dispute, moved by Somnath Chatterjee and seconded by Subodh Roy; another on the genocide of the minorities, moved by Brinda Karat and seconded by Arun Mehta; and the third on communalisation of education, moved by Ashok Dhawale and seconded by P Krishnaprasad.

During the discussion on the political resolution, delegates from Andhra Pradesh and Tamilnadu narrated their experiences of the campaign for social reform and particularly the issue of equal rights for Dalits. There have been encouraging results of the struggles launched by the party in these states against the ‘two-glass system’ and other practices which condemn the Dalits to the lowest rungs of the society. Some delegates recounted their experiences on struggles for the Adivasis’ rights and equal rights for women. They also underlined the relation between the struggle against destructive economic policies on the one hand and against increasing communalisation of life and society on the other. Many delegates stressed the need for combating the onslaught of privatisation and reduction in minimum facilities hitherto available to the common man in fields like education, health, electricity, public transport, etc, due to the policies of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation.

The delegates from West Bengal and Tripura explained how the Left Front governments in these states were implementing alternative policies despite the limits imposed by the new economic policy. At the same time, delegates from some other states said, adequate attention was not being paid to popularising the impressive and inspiring achievements of these governments. A delegate from West Bengal explained how after pushing the states into a crisis by depriving them of financial resources, the central government was now imposing its conditions on states, forcing them to accept the bankrupt economic policies and sign memoranda of understanding even for negligible central assistance. Delegates from Tripura, Assam and Manipur underlined the fact that the BJP-led union government has only aggravated the problem of insurgency; its policies have sharply increased the threat to national unity, integrity and security. Similarly, a delegate from Jammu & Kashmir blamed the BJP and its policies for having further boosted militancy. Later the congress accepted a resolution on the problems of the north-eastern states, moved by Udhav Burman and seconded by K Varadha Rajan.

Many delegates stressed that the only way to develop a lasting and strong unity of the non-Congress and non-BJP forces was to develop intense mass agitations on various issues. The present serious situation can be handled and the destructive economic policed being imposed by the BJP government combated only by developing such a front.

Prakash Karat replied to the important questions raised during the debate. Sitaram Yechury presented the report on amendments received during the congress. Out of 233 amendments proposed during the congress, 24 were accepted. He underlined that the accepted amendments further strengthened the political direction and future tasks set out by the political resolution. Along with these amendments, the congress unanimously accepted the political resolution in the evening session on March 21.

The morning session on March 22 began with general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet placing the political-organisational (polorg) report. He underlined that though the membership had increased, it did not reflect the political-ideological prestige the party enjoys amongst the masses. He said that if the consciousness of the party members is not elevated, even the increase in membership would not help in implementing the party line correctly. He further said that there had been weaknesses in implementing the united front tactics and urged the delegates to remedy them. For this, he called for developing independent actions of the party and unity of action. He strongly emphasised that the political-tactical line of the party can be implemented only by strengthening the party, by increasing the ideological consciousness and by a correct understanding of the basic principles of Marxism-Leninism. Surjeet emphasised that mass and class struggles should be intensified as this was the only key to successfully developing the party in the Hindi-speaking and other weaker states.

The party membership has gone up by 78,428 or 11 per cent since the last party congress. Not only this, it is significant that most of the party members enrolled came from younger sections.

Polit Bureau member S Ramachandra Pillai presented the organisational section of the polorg report. He underlined the tasks to develop the party, increase its influence and develop mass agitations. He said it is noteworthy that the proportion of party membership amongst the working class, poor peasants and khet mazdoors had improved. The proportion of membership amongst these sections and among the scheduled castes in some major states is shown in the table alongside.

On March 22 morning, the presidium made a special mention of the death anniversaries of Comrade E M S Namboodiripad on March 19 and Comrade A K Gopalan on March 22. The party congress pledged to emulate these two great leaders.

Next day, on March 23, the party congress pledged to keep the tradition of anti-imperialist struggle alive and remembered Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev on their martyrdom day.

The discussion on the political-organisational report, spread over three sessions, went on for two days; 42 delegates participated in it. Those who joined the discussion were as below: Razzaq Mollah, Kali Ghosh, Suryakant Mishra and Upen Kisku (West Bengal), K Balakrishnan, K N Balagopal and M C Josephine (Kerala), G Ramakrishnan and Padmanabhan (Tamilnadu), Gautam Das and Bijon Dhar (Tripura), C H Narasimha Rao and D Ramadevi (Andhra Pradesh), Umakant Shukla (Bihar), Robin Tamuli and Bipin Hazarika (Assam), Charan Singh Virdi (Punjab), D P Singh (Uttar Pradesh), D L Karad (Maharashtra), G N Nagaraja (Karnataka), Santosh Das (Orissa), Amra Ram (Rajasthan), J S Majumdar (Jharkhand), Pragjibhai Bhambri (Gujarat), Kashmir Thakur (Himachal Pradesh), Balbir Singh Dahiya (Haryana), P M S Grewal (Delhi), S Kumar (Chhattisgarh), G N Malik (Jammu & Kashmir), Gangadhar Nautiyal (Uttranchal), Avtar Sadiq (UK), Sarat Salam (Manipur), S S Naik (Goa), Bahadur Singh Dhakad (Madhya Pradesh), Hemalatha and W R Varadarajan (Trade Union), Shamik Lahiri (Students), Rekha Goswami (Women), Tapas Sinha (Youth), A Vijayaraghavan (Agricultrual Workers), N K Shukla (Kisan) and Rajender Sharma (PD/Lok Lahar/Publications).

The discussion focussed on and expressed deep concern over the inability to increase the strength and influence of the party outside the three strong states and over the decline in some Hindi-speaking states. Delegates from many states, while referring to the section on the united front tactics, ratified the conclusion on the basis of the experience in their states that adequate attention has not been paid to our independent actions and agitations. As a result, the party and the movement have not been able to benefit from the united front tactics; sometimes it is the bourgeois parties who have gained at the expense of our party. Many delegates critisised the tendency to subordinate the objectives of developing the party to the objective of developing a united front. While underlining the concrete tasks for developing the organisation and emphasising the need of concerted efforts to expand the organisation, many delegates specifically focussed on the importance of ideological work and party education. It was stressed that the party’s agit-prop work should be strengthened to combat the casteist, communal, consumerist and other reactionary ideologies. Many delegates narrated the campaigns in their respective states on the questions related to women, Dalits and minorities.

Delegates from the Left-ruled states pointed out the limitations in adopting alternative policies for betterment of the plight of the people, in the backdrop of the increasing economic onslaught by the central government. Special mention was made, in this context, of the resolution on the work of the state government, adopted in the Bengal state conference of the party. It was pointed out that instead of raising illusionary aspirations, the limitations before the government should be placed before the people; only then it can be underlined how Left Front governments are protecting the rights of the masses and are an instrument to further these interests. The delegates, broadly, felt that the current challenges can be converted into opportunities for substantial progress by overcoming the weaknesses on various fronts and launching sustained agitations.

With Surjeet replying to the discussion and assuring that the new Central Committee would make necessary improvements in light of the suggestions made during the discussion, the congress unanimously accepted the political-organisational report.

On March 23 evening, the party congress ratified the decision to expel four members in Kerala and authorised the new Central Committee to deliberate on the constitutional questions raised in this context.

The resolution on continued support to the Palestinian people was the first resolution accepted by the congress. M K Pandhe moved and Mohammed Amin seconded this resolution. The congress passed a resolution moved by Sukomal Sen on the sell-off of the public sector units; it was seconded by T K Rangjarajan. It accepted a resolution on the rights of women, moved by Biman Basu and seconded by Mythili Shivraman. Nirupam Sen moved a resolution on centre-state relations that was seconded by Shivadas Menon. The resolution on increasing unemployment was moved by N N Krishnadas and seconded by Maheshwar Rao while the resolution on north-eastern states was moved by Udhab Burman and seconded by K Varadha Rajan.

Twenty-one foreign delegations participated in this congress. Out of these, delegations from 16 fraternal parties attended the inaugural session itself. Delegates from the rest five fraternal parties reached after the congress had already begun.

The morning session on March 24 was the concluding session. Chittabrata Mazumdar, convenor of the credentials committee, presented its report. After this, the general secretary proposed that the new Central Committee must consist of 79 members, including two vacancies. When this was accepted, a written list of 77 names was distributed amongst the delegates. After the congress unanimously elected the new Central Committee, a five- member Central Control Commission was also elected. The new Central Committee, in its brief sitting during the recess in the congress, chaired by Jyoti Basu, elected a new Polit Bureau with the inclusion of K Satyanarayana. The Central Committee also re-elected Surjeet as general secretary. Similarly, the Central Control Commission, in its meeting, again elected Samar Mukherjee as its chairman.

These decisions were announced in that part of the morning session, which was an open session. Presspersons and others were invited to it. The CPI(M)’s Andhra Pradesh state secretary Raghavulu greeted Surjeet on his re-election as general secretary by presenting him a shawl. Later, in this session, Surjeet released a volume of articles by late Comrade M Basavapunainiah by presenting the first copy to Jyoti Basu. E K Nayanar released the souvenir of the congress by presenting copies to all Polit Bureau members.

It was in this very session that the congress felicitated twelve senior leaders for their contributions to the party and the movement. Among the thirteen senior leaders who had been especially invited to the congress, Dr Mahadev Saha could not attend due to ill health. Others felicitated were L B Gangadhara Rao, Captain Lakshmi Sahgal, K Ramani, M P Narayanan Nambiar, K P R Rayarappan, P B Rangnekar, Kalpataru Sengupta, Mira Chatterjee, A Abdul Wahab, P Satyanarayana, Narra Raghava Reddy and T Narasimhayya.

At the end, M A Baby, member of the presidium, moved the vote of thanks for the Andhra Pradesh state committee and the volunteers for successfully organising the congress. After the concluding address by Surjeet, which underlined that the party stood at a new stage of development, Jyoti Basu in his concluding presidential remarks issued a clarion call for immediately getting down to implementing the political resolution and the political- organisational report.

The historic congress concluded with a massive rally held later in the afternoon. Ten thousand Red Volunteers impressively marched through the main roads of Hyderabad. More than one lakh people attended the rally, at which various leaders of the party expressed their views.