Dislodge The Anti-People Jayalalitha Govt

CPI(M)’s Clarion Call For The People Of Tamilnadu

A A Nainar

A SPECIAL political conference of the CPI(M) Tamilnadu state unit called upon the people of the state to throw out the anti-people Jayalalitha government in the coming elections to the state assembly. The conference adopted a resolution delineating the people’s issues on which the elections must be fought. The resolution also contained contours of the alternative pro-people path any new government must adopt after coming to power.

The conference got off to a start on February 18 amidst thunderous slogans of ‘Red Salute to Red flag’ and ‘Red Salute to CPI(M)’ renting the air at Madurai Thamukkam Grounds with R Umanath, Polit Bureau member of the CPI(M) hoisting the Party flag.

At a time when all political parties in the state were engrossed in the task of seat sharing negotiations, the CPI(M) state committee was engaged in a different but admirable activity of conducting a political conference at Madurai for the purpose of formulating its document for an alternative path. This particular resolution is the articulation of its demands to any new government that is to occupy the seat of power in the state after the May 2006 state assembly elections. Successive governments, after assuming office tend to forget their own manifesto – leave alone the demands of the democratic parties – and embark on a path chartered by the neo liberal policies hitting hard the common man who voted them to power. It has become incumbent upon the CPI(M) in the state to put the issues in the perspective and see that this election is fought on the peoples issues.

The CPI(M) thought it fit to convene this broader conference involving all state committee members, district committee members and state level mass and class organisations’ leaders to deliberate and adopt such an important document that would become a weapon in the hands of the Party workers to face the electorate in the coming assembly elections. Altogether 1150 delegates attended this one-day special conference which was inaugurated by Prakash Karat, general secretary of the Party. The proceedings were conducted by a presidium consisting of  T K Rangarajan, central committee member, J Hemachandran state secretariat member and the leader of the CPI(M) legislature party in Tamilnadu assembly and P Jhansi Rani, state committee member. A Lasar, state committee member, welcomed the gathering.

Prakash Karat in his inaugural address dealt at length on the current political situation in the country, especially the formation of the UPA government, formulation of the CMP and the role played by the Left, particularly the CPI(M), in resisting those measures taken by the government which undermine the sovereignty of the nation and economic self-reliance. He narrated about the background of the struggles against FDI in retail sector, airport privatisation and the government’s pro-American tilt in its foreign policy as seen in the Iran nuclear issue. He further outlined the approach of the CPI(M) for the ensuing assembly elections in five states. To a cheering crowd, he confidently declared that the people of West Bengal will return the Left Front government back to power for the seventh consecutive time, and  with increased margins and numbers of seats in the coming elections. Similar optimism was expressed by him about Kerala too.

Coming to the Tamilnadu situation, he said that right from 2001 the Jayalalitha government went on a rampage on people’s livelihood issues and democracy. She implemented neo liberal policies and sought to suppress the movement of the state government employees, transport and electricity workers. She used POTA to settle scores against political opponents and abused her office to extend concessions to the big business, both Indian and foreign. The last minute sops and rollbacks might not cut ice with the masses, said Karat and expressed confidence that the people of the state would dislodge this anti-people regime and install a new government. He also expressed the hope that the CPI(M) would increase its presence in the state assembly commensurate with the influence and strength of the Party.

N Varadarajan, state secretary of the Party, while placing the resolution in the conference noted that the state government under Jayalalitha’s leadership refused to give land to the one crore landless workers in the state whereas she had given lakhs of acres of land to the corporate sector under the wasteland development scheme. Small and medium industries had run into difficulties about which her government had turned a deaf ear. He added that the people from rural areas were migrating to urban areas and other states in large numbers seeking employment and registered unemployed people had crossed the mark of 50 lakh. Varadarajan pointed out that the conduct of the legislative assembly itself is being made a mockery of democracy, where Jayalalitha alone was permitted to talk endlessly while the legislators’ mike were put off well before time by the speaker. Walk-outs and eviction had become a normal happening leaving the Treasury Benches to without bother throughout the sessions. He appealed to all democratic minded people to take note of all these happenings and give a fitting reply to the anti-democratic Jayalalitha government in the ensuing polls.

In the afternoon session, leaders representing various segments spoke seconding the resolutions. S Kannan (Youth), K Swaminathan (Middle classes), A V Murugayyan (AIAWU), Balabharathy (MLA), S A Perumal (Theekkadir), Ponraj (Teachers), N Pandi (AIKS), P Sugandhi (Women), G Selva (Students) and A K Padmanabhan (Trade Union) who spoke endorsing the resolution and urged the need to defeat the present AIADMK regime lock, stock and barrel. Later, the resolution was unanimously adopted by the conference to a standing ovation.

Earlier, in the inaugural session, the Tamil version of the book on the History of the Indian Communist Movement was released by Prakash Karat. The first copy was received by P Ramachandran, central committee member of the Party.

The delegate session was followed by a public meeting in the evening. Thousands of Party members and followers from the nearby districts were present in strength with their families to hear the leaders of the Party. P Mohan, Lok Sabha member representing Madurai constituency presided over the meeting in which Prakash Karat, R Umanath, member of Polit Bureau, N Sankaraiah, chairman of the Central Control Commission, N Varadarajan, state secretary, U Vasuki, central committee member, K Balakrishnan and A Soundararajan, state secretariat members spoke. As an expression of Left solidarity, D Pandian, state secretary of the CPI also addressed the public meeting. 

A Jothiram, Madurai urban district secretary welcomed the gathering and the rural district secretary V Sundaram proposed vote of thanks.  Preceding the public meeting, Madurai Transport Workers’ “Kalaivanar Kalaikuzhu”, Puthugai “Boopalam Kalaikuzhu”, Salem “Akkini Kalaikuzhu” and Krishnagiri “Makkal Kalaikuzhu” groups played various cultural programmes.

This political conference generated a lot of enthusiasm among democratic-minded people for the political struggle to be conducted in the form of electoral campaign. The CPI(M) had always been at the forefront of setting the agenda for any critical mass action and this time also it had successfully accomplished that task in the form a resolution - drafted, deliberated and adopted - for the ensuing Tamilnadu state assembly elections in May 2006.