People's Democracy

M Venugopala Rao

THE three-day 20th Andhra Pradesh state conference of the CPI(M) resolved to fight back the BJP which is endangering national unity, economic independence and democratic and secular values. It has also resolved to fight the World Bank-dictated anti-people policies of the TDP state government and appealed to the Left and democratic forces and enlightened people of the state to come forward to perform this task.

551 delegates from all over the state and 87 observers attended the conference which was successfully conducted at Moturu Hanumantha Rao Nagar in Ananthapur from January 10-12. CPI(M) general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet and Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury participated in the conference.

Veteran leader and former Polit Bureau member, L B Gangadhara Rao, hoisted the party's red flag amidst reverberating slogans from the delegates who later paid floral tributes at the martyrs' column. Speaking briefly, Gangadhara Rao asked the conference to take forward the legacy of the red flag and resolutely march in the path of the communist movement as laid down by the martyrs like P Sundarayya, M Basavapunnaiah, M Hanumantha Rao and N Prasada Rao for the liberation of the oppressed and exploited people.

Paturu Ramayya, M A Gafoor, Mallu Swarajyam, G Ramachandra Rao and S Rajayya were elected as the presidium of the conference, while the secretariat acted as the steering committee. The conference condoled the death of Comrades Moturu Hanumantha Rao and Nanduri Prasada Rao and several other leaders and cadres of the CPI(M) in the state and the country, communist leaders of several other countries and parties and several prominent personalities who passed away after the 19th state conference of the party.

S Narayana, chairman of the reception committee explained the political history of the district, participation of the people in the struggles conducted on various issues by the CPI(M) and its growth in the district.

In his inaugural address, Harkishan Singh Surjeet said the personal life a communist adopts inspires the people and this aspect of combining Marxism with personal living as was done by P Sundarayya had inspired him a lot. Asserting that nobody can match the communists in making sacrifices, Surjeet recollected the heroic Telangana armed struggle and said situation would have been different today had similar struggles taken place in other parts of the country at that time. Because of Andhra, the communist party emerged as the second biggest party in the parliament and came nearer to gaining power in the erstwhile Madras assembly. However, the bourgeoisie tried to create illusions among the people by promising land reforms. The disintegration of the erstwhile Soviet Union and the collapse of socialism in Eastern Europe was another setback felt Surjeet. Though the US imperialism gained upper hand and the world became unipolar, Surjeet asserted that nobody can stop the course of history. One-fourth of the world is still under socialism with China, Vietnam, Cuba and North Korea going ahead in that direction , prepared to face any challenges.

Surjeet criticised the BJP-led NDA government for facilitating the US attempts to meddle in the Kashmir issue and charged the BJP with going completely into the hands of US imperialism and selling away our country's interests.

During the recent visit of the Israeli foreign minister, Shimon Peres, to India, the NDA government confined itself to purchase of arms and did not even broach the subject of Palestine, whose cause India has always been supporting. Not even a single policy of the BJP-led government is intended to benefit the peasants and the working class.

Surjeet asked the AP unit of the CPI(M) to involve itself in all matters pertaining to the people and swing into immediate mass action by mobilising the people to save the country from the perilous course adopted by the BJP-led government

S Sudhakar Reddy, secretary of the A P state council of the CPI, greeting the conference, stressed the need for Left unity and united actions to fight against both the reactionary NDA government and the anti-people Chandrababu Naidu government. He called for moving forward towards building a political alternative in the state.

B V Raghavulu, secretary of the A P state committee of the CPI(M), responded positively saying that the CPI(M) would endeavour fully for forging Left unity and united action, as it has done so far.

Manik Sarkar, Polit Bureau member of the CPI(M) and chief minister of Tripura, while greeting the conference said the AP party unit was pride of the entire CPI(M) because of its glorious past. He said the militant struggle against hike in power tariff had drawn the attention of the country as a whole and of the working class. He also hoped the state unit would be able to chalk out future course of action and further strengthen the party and extend its mass base thus encouraging the struggling people of the country.

Party state secretary B V Raghavulu, presenting the political-organisational report, reviewed the struggles conducted during the last four years on various issues, the achievements, growth of the party, its prestige, deficiencies and the lessons drawn to give proper direction to take the movement forward in the coming period and to overcome the weaknesses. He said that the draft political resolution adopted by the central committee in its recent meeting in Kolkata contained clear-cut principles and tactics to be adopted in the prevailing situation, both at the national level and in the states. Raghavulu made it clear that our political policy should be in accordance with that line. He emphasised the need for intensifying struggles on the problems of the people and improving contacts with them and made it clear that by conducting militant struggles and maintaining highest communist standards in our living we can attract and mobilise the people.

60 delegates participated in the discussion on the political-organisational report during the three days, and narrated their experiences in the struggles conducted in their areas and sectors. They also dwelt on how to increase the strength of the party and front organisations and identified areas of deficiencies and weaknesses. They expressed their resolve to overcome the same and agreed with the critical thrust and direction given in the report.

Replying to the discussion, Raghavulu asked the delegates to prepare for waging more militant strugles in the coming period as more and more burdens would be imposed on the people by the anti-people policies of the central and state governments. The conference unanimously approved the report.

Sitaram Yechury, in his valedictory address, said that the combination of the legacy of the old generation and the younger generation is a healthy experience for the party in the country. It is being acknowledged by the people that CPI(M) has emerged as a major Left force in the country as well as the state and that it has a bright future. The prestige of the party has grown and people are eager to hear what the party says. By conducting independent activities, agitations and class struggles we have to strengthen the mass base of the party and endeavour for Left unity and united action, said Sitaram.

For several reasons BJP and communalism should be defeated, he emphasised. First, they are dangerous to the unity and integrity of the country. Second, communalism disrupts the class unity among the working class, poor peasantry and agricultural labour which we want to forge for the success of peoples' democratic revolution. Third, politically it is communalism which is subserving the imperialist interests and mortgaging our country. Communal politics is the ideology of the BJP and it wants to achieve political consolidation of its position with the imperialist support. If imperialism gets strengthened in our country, our revolutionary movement would lag behind. So our tactics should aim at defeating communalism, he explained. "Our tactics should weaken our class enemies, strengthen our struggles and take our movement forward. We have to take advantage of contradictions in the ruling classes, and then only we would have time and space to strengthen our struggles. In the complex and difficult situation prevailing in the country today, we have to deftly combine tactics with strategy", said Sitaram. Today the nation is facing an unprecedented crisis and the people are very much dissatisfied and we have to take forward our struggles and strengthen our movement and organisation in the state and the country, exhorted Sitaram.

The conference unanimously elected 81 member new state committee, which in turn elected a 15-member secretariat and re-elected B V Raghavulu as its new secretary. The members of the new secretariat are: B V Raghavulu, Koratala Satyanarayana, M V Narasimha Reddy, Paturu Ramayya, T Veerabhadram, Alluru Satyanarayana, Jakka Venkaiah, P Madhu, J Venkatayya, V Srinivasa Rao, Y Radhakrishna Murthy, V Krishnaiah, Y Venkateswara Rao, M A Gafoor and Ch Narsing Rao. 35 delegates, three observers and 9 alternate delegates were elected for the forthcoming 17th congress of the CPI(M) which is to be held in Hyderabad. A three member control commission with D Rami Reddy as chairman and Vanam Narsinga Rao and S Nirmala as members was also elected.

Among the six members relieved from the state committee, the veterans L B Gangadhara Rao, T Narasimhaiah, Parsa Satyanarayana and Narra Raghava Reddy were relieved on health grounds and Kunja Bojji to accommodate MLA S Rajayya. Explaining the services rendered by these veteran comrades, Raghavulu thanked them and the conference conveyed its respect with a thunderous red salute.

The conference passed 17 resolutions and authorised the newly-elected state committee to incorporate necessary amendments, pass and release another 9 resolutions. (Later on they were passed and released). The political resolution of the conference gave a call to fight back, through militant people's movements, the BJP which has become the main danger to the country's unity, economic independence and democratic and secular values and also the anti-people policies of the Telugu Desam party which is sailing with the BJP. In the direction of developing an alternative to the BJP-TDP combine and the Congress, which represent common economic policies, the conference asked for developing political unity among the Left parties.

In another resolution, the conference demanded the state government to cancel the agreements it had with the World Bank with conditionalities which severely affect the state's economy and impose unbearable burdens on the people. The conference, in another resolution, demanded the government to announce immediately a package for the development of the areas which became backward due to the negligence of the central and state governments and allocate at least a sum of Rs.5000 crore for this purpose.

One resolution appealed to the entire farming community to fight back the policies of the governments which are leading to their committing suicides while another demanded cancellation of all power purchase agreements.

The conference demanded obliteration of untouchability, curbing of attacks, atrocities and social boycott of dalits and meting out severe punishment to those who committed such atrocities.

Among the delegates and observers who attended the conference, 563 were men and 75 were women.

Class background : 42 of them hailed from the working class, 93 from the agricultural labour, 92 from the poor farmers, 176 from the middle class farmers, 41 from the rich farmers, 47 from the handicrafts, 84 from the urban middle class, 14 from the business, 3 from the capitalists and 26 from the landlords. 79 comrades belonged to scheduled castes, 22 to scheduled tribes, 212 to backward classes, 18 to minorities and 307 to other castes.

451 comrades are whole-timers, 60 employees, 14 workers, 51 agriculturists, 5 traders, 4 office secretaries and 53 others.

Jail life : 40 comrades were imprisoned for 1 to 3 months, 15 from 4 to 6 months, 5 from 7 to 12 months and 23 above one year, with Choudhari Tejeswara Rao undergoing the longest imprisonment of 13 years and 11 months and Choudhari Sampurnamma 7 years and 4 months.

Underground life: Below one month 35 comrades; 1 to 3 months 27; 4 to 6 months 16; 7 to 12 months 6; and above one year 24, with Lavu Bala Gangadhara Rao spending the longest underground life of 11 years followed by Mallu Swarajyam.

Age-wise composition: below 30 years 89 comrades; 31 to 40 years 218; 41 to 50 years 202; 51 to 60 years 62; 61 to 70 years 36 and above 70 years 25.

click here for a report on the rally