People's Democracy

TRIPURA

SC Coordination Committee Holds State Conference

Rahul Sinha

DEFENDING the Left Front government of Tripura in order to safeguard the democratic rights of the people in general and of the scheduled caste and dalit people in particular, was the central call that emerged out of the seventh conference of the Tripura Tapasili Jati Samanwaya Samiti (Tripura Scheduled Caste Coordination Committee) held at Agartala from June 25 to 27.

The conference took place at the Panchayati Raj Training Institute of Arundhatinagar in Agartala. The venue of the conference was named after Comrade Baidyanath Majumdar, one of the stalwarts of the Left and democratic movement in the state.

IMPRESSIVE

OPENING RALLY

The conference got off the mark with an impressive mass meeting at Sarvadharma mission ground in Arundhatinagar. Braving the scorching heat and intermittent showers, thousands of working people, including a large number of youth and women, attended the mass meeting that was presided over by Anil Sarkar.

Addressing the mass meeting, Tripura chief minister Manik Sarkar came down heavily on the Congress led UPA-2 government at the centre. The latter, he said, has added insult to injury by increasing the prices of diesel, kerosene oil and LPG at a time when the people of this country are already suffering from unabated rises in the prices of essential commodities. He said the impact of this hike in the prices of petro products would not be confined to the these products alone; rather its cascading effect would be felt on the passenger fares as well as freight charges, leading to a further rise in the prices of essential commodities. Such a hike has been unprecedented since independence, Manik Sarkar said, adding that the policies of this government are directed towards protecting the interests of black marketers and hoarders. Never has the country witnessed in the past such all encompassing corruption and plunder of the wealth belonging to the masses, he said.

Sarkar also came down heavily on the opposition BJP, saying it never speaks for the people but is rather busy in misleading the people. Attempts are on to create a situation of anarchy. He urged upon the mass of people to build up a united struggle against the policies of the centre which are harming the vital interests of the poor, toiling and backward sections of the people. He also urged the people of Tripura defeat all the attempts at creating anarchy in the state.

Sukumar Barman (general secretary of the organisation), Sudhan Das (general secretary, Tripura Fishermen’s Union), Jharna Das Baidya (member of parliament) and other leaders of the association also addressed the meeting. CPI(M) state committee secretary Bijan Dhar and CPI(M) Central Committee member Rama Das were also present.

In his presidential address, Anil Sarkar elaborated the steps taken by the Left Front government for the development of the scheduled castes. He said the democratic minded people of the state must intensify their struggle against the conspiracies to unseat the Left Front government.

Before the mass meeting started, Anil Sarkar hoisted the red flag of the organisation amidst slogans in memory of the martyrs.

DELEGATES

SESSION

The delegates session of the conference got under way on June 25 evening, with 518 delegates including 66 women from different parts of the state taking part in it.

CPI(M) state secretary Bijan Dhar inaugurated the session. Explaining the national political situation for the delegates, Dhar said the Left is under a particularly severe attack from the ruling class and all reactionary forces for the last the years. The natural resources of the country are being plundered. The corporates are capturing the national wealth. People’s money is being looted by a nexus of the corrupt big corporates, politicians and bureaucrats.  The Congress led central government is not willing to give any relief to the people who are suffering from the rising prices of essential commodities. The agrarian crisis has become all the more acute, with farmers’ suicides going on unabatedly. It is the Left parties alone who are organising the people against this situation. So it is quite natural that they are the target of corporate onslaughts. The continued attacks --- killing of 19 CPI(M) cadre, capture of more than 550 party offices in West Bengal etc --- are parts of the heinous attempts to strangulate democracy itself. Attempts are on to undo the political and socio-economic advances that have been made in favour of the scheduled castes, tribes and other poor during the 34 years of Left Front government in West Bengal. Dhar said a conspiracy is afoot in Tripura too to destabilise the atmosphere of peace, development and democracy here. We have to consolidate our strength, win new sections over and make them politically conscious in order to resist the anti-Left attacks.

Sukumar Barman placed the draft political-organisational report in the conference. The report attacked the neo-liberal policies of the Congress led UPA government at the centre for the unabated rise in the prices of essential commodities and the unprecedented corruption in the country. Referring to the pathetic situation facing the dalit mass, the report said the SCs constitute 17 per cent of India’s population but 85.25 per cent of them are landless. Incidents of brutality and social oppressions are perpetrated against them, day in and day out, in different Congress and BJP ruled states. The report stressed that it is the Left alone which is fighting for social justice for the dalits, and detailed the efforts of the Left Front government of Tripura for their development. It urged upon the masses to build up a massive, intensified and sustained class based movement to usher into a classless society which alone can ensure social justice for dalit masses, doing away with the present oppressive class and caste based structure of society. At the same time it asked the dalit masses in particular and people of the state in general to protect the Left Front government against the attempts to unseat it by anarchy and misinformation campaign of the opposition and to ensure a stable atmosphere of peace, development and democracy in the state.

A total of 46 delegates participated in the discussion on the report. The delegates mentioned the efforts of the Left Front government of the state for the benefit of the dalits. They were vocal against the anti-poor policies of the central government. They criticised the heinous attempts of the opposition to unseat the Left Front government by creating an atmosphere of terror and vowed to build up resistance against them.

Leaders of constituent organisations of the Coordination Committee, like Sudhan Das, Sunirmal Hrishidas, Ratan Dhanuk and Priyatosh Das, also addressed the delegate session.

On the second day of the conference, chief minister Manik Sarkar addressed the delegates. He said the oppressors use the caste system as a ploy to create division among the people to continue their system of exploitation. Since long the Congress party has been representing the class interest of the monopoly capital, landlords and Jotdars. No matter how tall it talks of protecting the interests of the dalits and other poor, it is difficult to believe them.  Despite their attempts to perpetuate the exploitation of lower and downtrodden sections, the ruling classes are unsure of sustaining this exploitative system. So they are trying to ensure that no force emerges so strong as to destroy this system. In areas where the Left and democratic forces are not strong enough, a section of dalit leaders is helping to weaken the class movement. A large section of the media and a section of the intelligentsia are working overtime for them. The Left bastion of West Bengal has been playing a vital role in fighting the class exploitation, uniting the people against the centre’s anti-people policies and for alternative policies. So it is natural that those representing vested interests are elated at the electoral defeat of the Left Front in West Bengal. He said in Tripura too, the Congress is overjoyed at this electoral result and is dreaming of pulling down the Left Front government here too. But the toiling, democratic minded people of the state are determined to protect this government.

CPI(M) Central Committee member Rama Das, AIDWA state secretary Krishna Rakshit, DYFI state secretary Amal Chakraborty and Narayan Deb (AIKS) greeted the conference. In his concluding speech on behalf of the presidium, Anil Sarkar said the Left led governments have always been steady allies in the downtrodden people’s struggles. The debacle of the Left in other states has to be turned around into a victory there.

NEW

COMMITTEE

The conference unanimously elected a new state committee with 129 members, including 45 new faces. Anil Sarkar and Sukumar Barman were re-elected president and general secretary respectively. A new 29-member secretariat was also elected.

The conference adopted the draft polorg report, a 21 point charter of demands and 7 resolutions. The resolutions were on the attacks on the Left and democratic movement in West Bengal, on the social-political and economic atrocities against dalits all over the country, on the callous attitude of the centre to price rises, on a universal public distribution system and food security, on immediate passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill, on the deprivation meted out to Tripura by the 13th Finance Commission and on the conspiracies to unseat the Left Front government etc.