TRIPURA

19th State Conference Of CPI(M) Begins

Haripada Das

THE 19^th state conference of Tripura began on 4 August 2008 at Dinesh-Purnamohan-Bhubaneswar Manch, Rabindra Satabarshiki Bhavan in Harkishan Singh Surjeet Nagar, Agartala. The inaugural session of the conference was presided by a presidium comprising Anil Sarkar, Bajuban Reang, both state secretariat members, Rama Das, and Faizur Rahaman, state committee members of the Party. Apart from delegates and state Party leaders, Polit Bureau members Sitaram Yechury, Manik Sarkar and Assam state secretary Uddhab Barman were also present in the open session of the Party conference. The steering committee was formed with rest of the state secretariat members. Several thousand people of Agartala town and its suburb areas gathered at the conference venue to participate in the inaugural session.

Prakash Karat, general secretary of CPI(M) addressing the inaugural session said the Congress-led UPA government at the centre has been able to garner numerical majority in the floor of the parliament, but it does not have the mandate of the countrymen for the nuclear deal. Neither does it have a stable majority. That is the reason the government is trying to avert facing Lok Sabha. The forging of third alternative as we talk of, is not a hotchpotch electoral alliance, he said. It would emerge with a broader unity on policy matters with the non-Congress and non-BJP parties opposing the anti-national nuclear deal, Prakash said.

Reminiscing Comrade Harkishan Singh Surjeet�s contributions, Karat said, he was the founder members of the Party who played a very significant role in shaping the communist movement in the country. Comrade Surjeet�s life of sacrifices and dedication for the cause of the peasantry and working class is an inspiration to each and every communist. The Party vows to tirelessly strive towards ushering in people�s democratic revolution, he said. Comrade Surjeet had a close association with the communist movement in Tripura. Since 1964, Comrade Surjeet visited Tripura many times and helped the Party with his guidance.

Karat said Tripura , like West Bengal and Kerala, is also a citadel of communist movement. Paying homage to the leaders like Dasaratha Deb, Nripen Chakraborty and many others, Karat said they initiated communist movement against feudal regime and provided a unique example of united democratic movement of tribals and non-tribals in the state. Commemorating hundreds of comrades slayed during semi-fascist Congress-TUJS coalition regime, Karat said it was a testing time for the Tripura party which successfully maintained links with the people and regularly carried on mass movement, frustrating all barbaric attacks and conspiracies of the ruling classes.

Karat pointed out that the very fact that sixth Left Front government is in office is evidence enough that the people are in favour of the Left Front. The Party has decided to fight against the neo liberal policies being hastily pursued by the UPA government following the Left parties� withdrawal of support. The Party would launch campaign movement against the communal forces like BJP and RSS etc., simultaneously with the efforts to resist the attempts towards making India a junior partner of US strategic alliance in the name of nuclear deal. The deal is a serious compromise of the country�s sovereignty and independent foreign policy. For achieving these three goals, the strength of the Party should be increased in the entire country by mobilising workers, peasants, tribals, dalits and minorities, he urged.

Explaining the background of the Left parties� outside support to the UPA government on the basis of CMP, to keep the communal BJP out of power, Karat said, the CMP does not refer to the strategic alliance with America. And since the nuclear deal compromises with country�s sovereignty and independent foreign policy, left parties had no other alternative but to withdraw support. He lambasted the Congress party for resorting to horse-trading for managing the numbers for tiding over the confidence motion in parliament with crores of rupees, totally disregarding the democratic ethics. This is a treachery on the millions of countrymen who have a bright heritage of anti-imperialism, anti-communalism and history of prolonged struggle for independence, Karat said. The people of the country shall rebut the UPA government with the 20 August 2008 general strike called by the trade unions, Karat said and urged the people to make the general strike a total success.

Amidst enthusiasm and due solemnity, the red-flag on the occasion of the 19^th state conference was hoisted by Party state secretary, Baidyanath Majumder on 4 August, in the presence of Party leaders and delegates from different sub-divisions. Prior to that, three brigades of uniformed volunteers, each named after three veteran communist leaders and former state committee members namely Dinesh Debbarma, Purnamohan Tripura and Bhubaneswar Dey, who passed away in the interim period, reached the venue (Rabindra Shatabarshiki Bhavan) from different areas of the town with the portrait of the leaders. The entire venue was decked up in red flags, and cheered by slogans. Homage was paid to the martyrs. Condolence resolution was read out by Party Central Committee member Bijan Dhar. Floral tributes were paid at the martyrs� column surrounded by 19 red flags symbolising 19 conferences, first by Polit Bureau member Manik Sarkar and followed by Party state secretary Baidyanath Majumder, Assam state committee secretary Uddhab Barman, other Central Committee members, state committee members, delegates and others.

The conference was scheduled to commence on 3 August 2008 with a huge mass rally at Agartala. All preparations were completed for that. But due to the demise of the beloved communist leader of the country and Party former general secretary Comrade Harkishan Singh Surjeet on 1 August, the schedule of the conference was postponed by a day. The programme of mass rally was cancelled. On 3 August, the day of cremation of Comrade Surjeet, all the Party units organised silent procession in his memory.

In the first session, Party secretary Baidyanath Majumder presented the political-organisational report, part-1. He said that the party had only 4000 members in 1978, and at present we have 69,600 members, of which a large chunk are new comers. It is the duty of the Party to equip them ideologically, politically, and organisationally. Similarly, members of mass organisations also increased many fold. That apart, since 2003 Assembly elections, more than half a lakh people belonging to opposition parties joined our Party. This process of joining in our Party from the opposition camp continues even today. Barring a few, most of them joined on our side sincerely. We should not suffer from any kind of narrowness to accept them. Still, Baidyanath Majumder emphasised, there are thousands of people who belong to our class ally, who are lying in the opposition camp. We must approach them politically and win them over, he asserted.

Regarding achievements of the Left Front government, Baidyanath Majumder mentioned that the government could succeed to make a major breakthrough in containing the extremist onslaught, maintenance of peace and harmony and ensuring the security of public life and property. As peace is the pre-requisite of development, many developmental schemes either have been implemented or are in progress. We must be transparent in the implementation of these schemes, he stressed. The anti-Left Front media is tirelessly dishing out concocted scandals against us to belittle the glorious victory of the Left Front in the last Assembly elections. All the scandals must be refuted in proper manner, he said. Simultaneously, apart from building stronger movements on national, state and local issues, the social issues like torture on women and superstitions etc., also must be taken up for campaign movement, he urged. Lastly, he called upon all the Party comrades to strictly adhere to communist morality in day to day life and livelihood.