People's Democracy

NECESSARY arrangements are being made for the successful holding of the 17th Congress of the CPI(M) in Hyderabad from March 19 to 24. At a meeting of the reception committee held on February 1, around 20 sub-committees were formed for overseeing the arrangements.

These sub-committees cover areas like accommodation, food, rally and public meeting, souvenir, seminars, medical facilities, reservations, drinking water and sanitation, office of the Central Committee, media centre, maintenance of accounts, foreign delegates, transportation, cultural activities, exhibition, printing, decoration, venue of the conference, etc. Prominent people in the city would be enlisted as chairpersons of the sub-committees after getting their consent, explained Raghavulu while proposing their formation.

Koratala Satyanarayana, chairman of the reception committee presided over the meeting which was addressed by the Polit Bureau member, Sitaram Yechury.

The preparations for the Congress included training of nearly six thousand volunteers who would march in the forefront of the rally which will be held on the occasion of the Party Congress. From March 10th, campaign jathas would start from Ichapuram, Sullurpet, Chittoor and Adilabad and reach Hyderabad before the Party Congress commences. The jathas will cover many villages and towns in the state and would undertake a political campaign on the various problems of the people like power tariff hike, suicides of farmers, privatisation etc. The jathas would be received in Hyderabad by all-India leaders of the Party.

A series of seminars - on the government’s agricultural policies and suicides of farmers, on power sector reforms, on the NDA rule, on the regional imbalances and policies of the present state government, on social justice and a cultural and literary programme would be organised in connection with the 17th Congress, announced Raghavulu.

Sitaram Yechuri told the meeting that leaders of communist parties from 20 countries, including the developed capitalist countries, had agreed to attend the 17th Congress of the CPI(M). In the changed situation in the world after the September 11 attack, it is necessary to coordinate large scale mass movements against globalisation and the attempts of the US imperialism to impose its hegemony on the world, he explained. The Party Congress would provide an opportunity to mutually share and learn from the experiences of these struggles with leaders of the communist parties coming from other countries and chalk out tactics to be adopted to co-ordinate the struggles.

Koratala Satyanarayana said the state committee of the Party felt that it should take advantage of the 17th Congress to create an atmosphere for inspiring and getting the people prepared for the struggles ahead. The state secretariat of the CPI(M) had decided to conduct campaign jathas covering all villages in the state with extensive political campaign. All the traditional arts of the people would be popularised by organising cultural programmes during the period of the Congress. Depicting the economic situation in the country and the state during the last 10 years of reforms and the disastrous effects of the regimes of Chandrababu Naidu and BJP, history of independence struggle, history of the Communist movement, science, etc., an exhibition would be organised on a large scale, explained Koratala.

B V Raghavulu, treasurer of the reception committee and secretary of the state committee of the CPI(M), proposed the formation of the sub-committees. M V Narasimha Reddy, general secretary of the reception committee, said the country’s politics is reaching a turning point, with dissatisfaction of the people and a flurry of agitations, and the CPI(M) has to play an important role.