People's Democracy

RAJASTHAN

Party Office Building Inaugurated

A view of the CPI(M) Rajasthan state headquarters building, Kisan Mazdoor Bhavan

IT is a measure of the growth and confidence of the state unit of the CPI(M) in Rajasthan that it now houses its headquarters in its own building in the state capital, Jaipur. Inaugurated by the general secretary of the Party, Prakash Karat on November 7, in Jaipur, on the anniversary day of the Great October Revolution, the building is a new landmark on the political horizon of the state of Rajasthan. The building, named Kisan Mazdoor Bhawan, made of Karauli sandstone, is situated on the Khatipura Road in the predominantly working class area of Hassanpura in Jaipur. The three storey building has a basement which will function as a dormitory for hundreds of workers coming to the state capital from different parts of the state, it has an auditorium with a sitting capacity of 300-400 persons, office rooms for different mass organisations, two living quarters for party whole timers and guest accommodation apart from two conference rooms.

The Kisan Mazdoor Bhawan was thronged by thousands of workers, party activists, and sympathisers all through the day after a colourful inauguration ceremony on November 7 noon, amidst thunderous slogan shouting. For this landmark day for the communist movement in the state of Rajasthan, thousands of workers, peasants and women had come from different parts of the state. Hundreds of rickshaw-pullers took out a procession to the venue with red flags and Karat was led to the venue of the public meeting outside the office by scores of motor cycle riders with fluttering red flags. The meeting was presided over by veteran Kisan leader Sheopat Singh. Seated on the dais with Karat were veteran trade union leader of Rajasthan, Hetram Beniwal, secretary of the state unit of the Party, Vasudev, Party central committee member Hariram Chauhan, Party MLA Amara Ram, central committee member in-charge of the state party, Hannan Mollah and Inderjeet Singh, secretary of the Haryana state committee of the Party. In a moving gesture the party had invited the 89-year old Mohar Singh, among the party’s first time MLAs along with Sheopat Singh in 1957, to share the dais with younger leadership. Also present were state leaders of the CPI, Janata Dal (S) and Samajwadi Party.

Speaking on the occasion, Karat underlined the dangers and difficulties that the people in the country are going to face with the government charting out its economic and foreign policy at the dictates of US imperialism. Karat criticised the government of India vote against Iran in the IAEA meeting, for it was the sovereign right of any country to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. He also pointed out that the impending visit of the US treasury secretary is going to put pressure on the government to allow foreign direct investment in the retail sector, to enhance its limit in the banking sector and allow its increasing penetration in the educational sector. Karat asserted that the Left parties which are supporting the government will oppose these policies in parliament. Karat greeted the leadership of the state party and expressed confidence that acquiring the building will be the beginning for bringing about a change in the class correlation of forces in the bipolar politics of the state of Rajasthan.

Vasudev explained the background and the overwhelming response that the Party got during the course of the building construction on the 600 sq yards plot. Although the Party has its own buildings in several centres of its influence in the state like Sikar, Churu, Bikaner, Sriganganagar, Udaipur, Kankroli, Kishengarh, Ajmer, Kota and Jhunjhuun, it was Surjeet who inspired the state leadership to acquire its own office instead of depending on the government accommodation provided to an MLA. The state party had been functioning from an MLA quarter for around 25 years. During this period the Party has had one MLA from different constituencies. The land was purchased in 1995 and Surjeet laid the foundation on November 1, 2000. Since then, not only has the party constructed its building, the market cost of which may be over half a crore, it has led hugely successful and massive struggles of the peasantry in the state. During this period the Party had six martyrs sacrificing their lives in the cause of the people and led two Maha Padavas involving lakhs of peasants who with their determination, solidarity and struggle brought the insensitive BJP government in the state to its knees concede their demands. The building comes the wake of these struggles and will function as a centre for promoting and leading the struggles of the people, asserted Vasudev. He thanked all those who contributed to the building fund.

Speaker after speaker assured that the Party would remain in the forefront of struggles, its office building will not be a bureaucratic centre but will function as a centre of struggle and its doors will always remain open for the working people. All through the two-hours long meeting, people continued to make monetary contributions towards the Party’s building fund. The speakers from the CPI, Janata Dal(S) and Samajwadi Party also emphasised that the growing strength of the CPI(M) in the state will be the fulcrum around which the joint struggles can be built and the bipolarity in the politics of the state can be breached.

Now that the Party building has been built and inaugurated, the Party has got down to enrolling members for its mass fronts, planning future struggles and reaching out to different sections of the people, said Hannan Mollah, incharge of the state Party from the centre.