People's Democracy

Gujarat CPI(M) Holds Its 18th State Conference

THE 18th Gujarat state conference of the CPI(M) was held on December 8-10, in ‘Tulsiram More Nagar’, Vadodara. The venue was named after a leading comrade of Vadodara district.

The proceedings of the conference began with the unfurling of the Party flag by senior leader of the Party and former central committee member, Subodh Mehta. After that delegates and leaders paid their floral respect to the martyrs  at the martyrs column.

CPI(M) Polit Bureau member M K Pandhe and central committee member Sukomal Sen attended the state conference.

Pandhe delivered the inaugural address in the open session, which was presided over by Subodh Mehta. Sukomal Sen provided his guiding observations on the main report and on the discussion that followed.

Pandhe in his speech dwelt upon the current international and national situation and the tasks before the Party. Despite the increased efforts of the US imperialism to impose its hegemony in all spheres of the world, there has been positive developments insofar as resistance to such efforts are concerned, noted Pandhe. He cited the ongoing resistance of Iraqi rebels, the victory of the Left forces in various Latin American countries, the significant international movement of social forums movement under the slogan of “Another World Is Possible.”

On the national situation, Pandhe said the present emphasis is to foil the efforts of the communal forces to stage a comeback; to fight to get the pro-people commitments made in the CMP implemented; and to resist the forceful implementation of neo-liberal policies. Pandhe called for building of a nationwide  movement on these issues. He said the forthcoming 18th Party Congress scheduled to be held at Delhi in April first week will chart out the future course of action of the Party in the present context.

Sukomal Sen in his brief intervention stressed that a proper perspective for the future growth of the Party in the state is to be urgently formulated after taking into account the experience during the last three years. He wanted the entire Party to fully assimilatethe Party programme. He sasid the Party should be vigilant against communal forces, particularly of the Sangh Parivar and of other Muslim fundamentalists.

Subodh Mehta in his speech expressed confidence that the ongoing resistance to the US imperialism drive for hegemony will gain more strength as people all over the world were gaining consciousness about the real designs of the US. Despite setbacks to socialism in the recent past, it will emerge as the real alternative to capitalist-led globalisation, he said.

GEN-SEC REPORT

State secretary of the Party, Arun Mehta presented a detailed report on the activities of the Party in the last three years, the most trying period in the state. This period was marked by devastating earthquake, state sponsored genocide, famine and overall criminal rule of the BJP.

The attacks on working people, the poor and the middle classes reached a peak under the Modi-dispensation with imposition of a myriad of new taxes. At the same time the BJP government showered crores of rupees on the rich folk and MNC’s under incentives. This came even as the state debt had reached a high of Rs 60,000 crore – a whopping 36 per cent of the GDP. At the time BJP came to power it was at 26 per cent of the GDP. All the state PSUs have been targeted for sell off as per the dictates of the Asian Development Bank.

How the BJP used the devastating earthquake as a ruse to further its neo-liberal agenda was brought out in the report. The BJP government immediately imposed heavy taxes on the middle classes and working people while leaving the rich corporates. The fall out was drastic. More than 2 lakh students dropped out of schools and colleges after the steep hike in tuition fees and donation amounts; with the hike in power tariff and simultaneous cut in subsidies, many peasants committed suicides.

The BJP and Sangh Parivar’s role in the state sponsored genocide following the Godhra incident is well documented, noted the report. Today, the BJP in the state is plagued with internal quarrels, rivalries and corruption. However the state Congress is proving quite ineffective in posing an alternative to the BJP. The Congress is also rendered ineffective with egocentric clashes among its top leaders and the corrupting influence of the crumbs being thrown at it by the BJP government.

Though, relatively speaking,  the CPI(M) is a small force in the state, with the help of the central committee it had undertook three major tasks in this period: (1) construction of “Niruben Patel Gaon” an entirely new village formation, in Morbi area of Rajkot district near Malia after the earthquake (2) absolutely transparent hand-to-hand relief distribution to the surviving victims of earthquake and (3) carrying an effective exposure campaign against the state sponsored genocide in the state.

The Party membership has increased to 3,398 at the time of this conference and this growth has been made possible not only due to the increased prestige of the Party but also due to the tireless effort of the cadres braving all odds. Many new groups are joining the Party.

This increased strength of the Party was also reflected during the last Lok Sabha elections. In the tribal reserved seat of Dahod, the Party candidate Singjibhai Katara polled 16,425 votes. Also the impressive participation of various sections in the February 26 all India strike call and the fact that the CITU was a rallying point for all trade unions in the state are a further testimony to the increased strength.

The state conferences of various mass organisations, held in the run up to the Party state conference, were reasonably successful. The public meetings held on these occasions were well-attended. Various central leaders participated in these conferences to guide the organisations.

In all 26 delegates participated in the discussion on the general secretary report. The conference unanimously passed ten resolutions and the subjects ranged from – against communalism; against commercialisation of education; demanding roll back of taxes levied on the poor and the middle classes; saving kisans, adivasis; protection of small scale industries and co-operative sector; demanding halt to privatisation of electricity and state transport etc.

A 31 member new state committee was elected unanimously by the conference. The state committee met and relected Arun Mehta as its state secretary. Apart from state secretariat, six delegates for the Party Congress were also elected.