Red flag is fluttering and can never be brought down in West Bengal : Call of the CPIM West Bengal State Conference

The Communist Party of India-Marxist 23rd state conference re-elected Comrade Biman Bose as the secretary on the concluding day of the state conference on sunday. A state Committee of 83 members has been elected from the conference.25 resolutions have been passed from the conference. 175 delegates have been elected for the 20th Congress of C.P.I.(M), to be held in Kozhikode, Kerala in April 2012. Comrade Nirupam Sen has been elected as the treasurer of the Party State Committee.The control commission, consisting 4 members, has been elected from the conference.

The biggest highlight of the concluding day of the conference was the mammoth rally carried out by party members and sympathisers in the Brigade Parade ground in Kolkota. This is for the first time after the Left front government was voted out, that the party has arranged this rally. The participation of more than 10 lakh people itself came as a shock to the medias and corporates who have "written off" CPIM from WB state politics.

Wave after wave of crimson troops flooded the heart of Kolkata. For all those who were intimidated, attacked, forged, raped, evicted and vandalized under the autocratic ruling of the Trinamool Congress led coalition government, it was the day for reclaiming their lost independence. The reign of terror across Bengal districts for last nine months of the new government received a big bash by the red brigade . Every living being that still crawls, creeps even after the rule of terror converged into the Brigade Parade ground.

This Brigade rally was important for being the first one after the historic 34 years of the Left Front government discontinued. 13th May 2011 is already in the hallmark as this day not only marks the end of a lengthy pro-people government, it started the decline of democratic rights of common people in West Bengal. The last nine months were all haunted with political murders, infant’s death, farmers’ suicide, unleashing attack on students and college campuses etc.  Every red-clad youth of this state avowed their protest against the TMC-led state government .

Massive rallies of farmers, agricultural labourers and working people emerging from all across the state attended the Brigade with full confidence to recapture the lost democratic rights and to set forth a new political journey. The 23rd state conference of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) concluded on 18th February with the call for intensive class struggle and mass movements in the state. Strengthening mass base among poorer class of people with class ideology; removing all predicaments and organizational inertness were the prime call of the 23rd conference. The scheduled proceeding of the open session started from sharp 1 P.M. when the newly elected state secretary Biman Basu commenced his presidential address.

 

Basu's life-size picture, alongside that of former party general secretary H.K.S. Surjeet, adorned the stage in the open session at the Brigade Parade ground, that brought the curtains down on the CPI-M's 23rd state conference.

Two prominent CPI-M leaders began their speeches by remembering Basu and the role he played in consolidating the party in the state and also guiding it in national politics.

"This is the first (state) conference when comrade Jyoti Basu is not with us. During earlier conferences he used to give directions and guide us. We will always remember the path he has shown us and follow his guidance," party general secretary Prakash Karat told the rally at the sprawling ground, where the late leader had addressed big crowds dozens of times during his long political career.Karat's comments drew loud applause from the lakhs of party supporters who shouted in unison 'comrade Jyoti Basu amar rahe'. Referring to the large assembly of people, CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat said: “The message being sent across the country and the world by this sea of humanity that has converged here today is that the red flag is fluttering and can never be brought down in West Bengal.”

  

Claiming that the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in the State had never before been able to rally people together in such large numbers on the scale it did here on Sunday, the former Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee told a massive congregation that the very size of the gathering “proves that we are standing on firm ground and from which they [those in power now] have not been able to evict us.”

He was speaking at the open session that marked the conclusion of the 23rdState Conference of the CPI(M).

This was the first public rally to be organised by the party at the Brigade Parade ground since the Trinamool Congress-led government assumed power in the State in May 2011.

Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Surya Kanta Mishrasaid: “The Chief Minister, I understand, is at home; I only hope she is watching it [the rally] on the television. I kindly request her not to switch off the set.”

Her government, Dr. Mishra said, “is trying to silence the CPI(M) both inside and outside the Assembly, but never would it be able to silence so many lakhs of people [gathered at the rally].”

 “We [CPI(M)] are here because you [the people] are there.” he added.