CPIM Madurai Urban District Conference

CPIM Central Committee member Com. T K Rangarajan Inaugurated the 20the Madurai Urban District conference which was held from 2nd January to 4th January.  The Delegate session was held in a hall named after com. P Mohan and Com. Muniyandi.

Com. P Vikraman

Com. B. Vikraman has been unanimously elected secretary of Madurai urban district unit of Communist Party of India (Marxist) for the second term on Monday. The party district conference also elected a 41-member new district committee. District secreteriate including MLA R. Annadurai, former MLA N. Nanmaran, R. Jothiram and Corporation Councillor M. Chellam, P Nazer, R Vijayarajan, R Lenin, V Pichai, A Pichaimani, M Sellam, P Radha, E M Joseph was also elected. 13 Delegates including 3 women were elected to participate in the state conference to be held at Nagapattinam ahead of the 20th Party Congress. 

The conference demanded the police to take steps to help the Dalits of Uthapuram to use the common pathway without any interference. The district administration should construct a bus shelter in the village and also clear the sewerage that was draining into the Dalit's residential area. The CPI (M) conference also called upon the Southern Railways to develop Royapuram station as the third terminal after Central and Egmore. Royapuram has 72 acres of land and this could be sufficient even to construct a railway station of international standards.

Veteran Communist leader and CPIM Control Commission Chairman Com N. Sankaraiah inaugurated the public meeting on Tuesday. CPIM CC Member Com. T K Rangarajan also spoke on the occasion.

CPIM Thrissur District Conference

Communist Party of India (Marxist) Polit Bureau member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan inaugurated the delegate session of a three-day Thrissur district conference which was held from 2nd Janauary to 4th January 2012. Comrades P.R. Rajan, P K. Biju, MPs; K. Radhakrishnan, Babu M. Palissery, B. D. Devassy, C. Ravindranath, MLAs; party leaders E. P. Jayarajan, A. K. Balan, Paloli Mohammed Kutty, T. Sivadasa Menon, K. K. Mamakutty, district secretary A. C. Moideen, reception committee chairman Baby John, convener M. M. Varghese, Lonappan Nambadan and C. P. Narayanan were present.

Conference reception committee chairman Baby John hoisted the party flag at the venue. P.R. Rajan, MP, lit a ceremonial torch. Party district secretary A.C. Moideen inaugurated an exhibition on history.

 370 delegates, including 40 district committee members were present in the delegate session representing 32,018 members in the district. Com. A C Moideen placed the Organisational and Political report for discussions in the conference

A.C. Moideen will continue as CPI(M) district secretary. He was named secretary in March after the party decided to field outgoing district secretary Baby John in Manalur in the Assembly elections. The district conference also elected a 41-member district committee.

Addressing a press conference, Mr. Moideen said that a study programme would be conducted among the party leadership to develop a master plan for the district's development. The district conference adopted 19 resolutions about development issues and the need for strengthening efforts to solve people's problems.

A mass rally was organised on the third day of the conference. More than one lakh people participated in the rally organised in the city. The rally converged at the famous Thekinkad Maidanam, where the Thrissur pooram is held.  25000 Red Volunteers marched through the city as a show of strength. CPIM PB member Com. Kodiyeri Balakrishnan was given a Gaurd of Honour by the red volunteers. Eventually Thrissur city turned into a red sea. The Public meeting was inaugurated by Com. Kodiyeri Balakrishnan.

CPI(M) Kollam district Conference

The three-day district conference of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) was held from 2nd January to 4th January. The conference was inaugurated by party State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan at the Municipal Town Hall. Party CC Members Com.  V.S. Achuthanandan, P.K. Gurudaan, M.A. Baby, T.M. Thomas Isaac, M.C. Josephine, Vaikom Vishwan, and state secreteriate members Com M.V. Govindan and Anathalavattam Anandan attended the conference. 

356 delegates representing the 34,920 members in the district took part in the district conference. The party has 2,490 branch committees 136 Local committees and  17 area committees.

Procedures for the district conference began in September, 2011, with local committee conferences. All the 136 local committee conferences were completed in November. This was followed by the area committee conferences. Seminars on contemporary topics were conducted at all taluks in the district as a prelude to the district conference. The party flag hoisted at the conference venue is being brought from the tomb of M.A. Ashraf at Anchal Thadikkad who attained martyrdom for the party. The flag hoisted at the public meeting venue will be brought from the Sooranad Martyrs Memorial.

District secretary of the party Com K. Rajagopal presented the Organisational and political report. Com Rajagopal was reelected the district secretary. The conference also constituted 43-member district committee with 7 new faces.

The red volunteer march in connection with the conference will began from the Asramam Maidan at 3 p.m. on Wednesday. More than 10,000 red volunteers and close to one lakh party members, supporters and sympathisers took part in the march. Com. V S Achuthanandan inaugurated the public meeting which follows.

Strengthen Party to Meet the Developing Objective Conditions of Peoples' Movements : Call at Party Conferences in West Bengal

 

'Objective conditions of building peoples' movements are budding in West Bengal. The task is to build up the subjective factor by strengthening Party's relationship with the people'. This was the main thrust of district conferences of CPI(M) in West Bengal.

Till the first week of January, 2012, conferences in 11districts out of 19 have been concluded. The first was in South Dinajpur, followed by Darjeeling, North Dinajpur, Maldaha, Nadia, Murshidabad, Burdwan, Bankura, Birbhum, Purulia and Kolkata. These conferences, being held in a new political situation, were exercises in detailed introspection of Party's activities, its relationship with the people, the mistakes and deficiencies in implementing political programme. Everywhere the self critical attitude prevailed and urgent need to reorient Party's activities according to the needs of the situation was emphasized. At the same time, the experiences of seven months of TMC Government were summarized. It was noted that the initial euphoria of "change" was gradually giving in to discontent and dissatisfaction among the people. This was particularly evident in rural areas where the peasantry was facing serious problem of distress sale of major crops like paddy, jute and potato. A feeling of disgruntlement was also evident in educational institutions where whims of the ruling party have created a reign of anarchy. The working people were facing hardship from policies of the new Government. The necessity to strengthen bond with people to give voice to these displeasures was the call of the day.

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee underlined the task while inaugurating the Kolkata district conference. He said, 'the objective conditions of a change in adverse situation is gradually coming into fore in international and national scenario. The votaries of capitalism and market economy are now in deep trouble. After the demise of USSR, it was told that capitalism had no alternative. But now that same capitalism is reeling under crisis. UPA Government, pursuing neo liberal policies has contributed in aggravating the problems of poverty, hunger and illiteracy. It has also invited new type of corruption. The inequality is accentuating thereby creating conditions for intensification of contradictions. UPA Government will surely become alienated from the people". Explaining the situation in West Bengal Bhattacharjee said, "Peoples' experience in last seven months has led them gradually to the path of protest in different spheres. It is true that there was a severe shift of political balance of forces in the state. A large section of people has shifted from the camp of the Lefts. The time has come when the Lefts have to win over the people again. The subjective condition of organizing bigger protests is to build up the Party, rectifying the mistakes. The Communist Party must build itself in the manner in which people want to see them. It will only be possible if the Party workers work incessantly among the people and raise their political consciousness.''

Biman Basu, while intervening in the discussion in Purulia and Bankura, has emphasized the need to revitalize Party organizations at all levels with the aim of mobilizing people in broader movement. "Thousands of Party workers have been attacked, rendered homeless and more than 50 have been killed in last seven months, but they have not left the Party", asserted Basu.

Peasants Display Anger Through Strike in West Bengal

In the backdrop of worsening plight of peasants in West Bengal, with an apathetic Government for last seven months, rural Bengal witnessed a massive protest in the form of an agriculture strike on 4th January. In the first statewide action of this kind, four Left peasant organisations called for stoppage of all agricultural activities and functioning of village panchayats across the State. The peasants, facing severe crisis due to declining prices of their produces, responded to the call with enthusiasm. All activities, relating to agriculture virtually came to standstill in 18 districts. The agricultural workers, whose job is already threatened, also joined in force. Instead of farming, rural Bengal saw rallies, blockades and demonstrations throughout Wednesday.

Last seven months of “change” in West Bengal have brought disastrous consequences for the peasants. The agricultural production witnessed a huge jump during Left Front Government and along with the support from the State Government and panchayats the lives of the farmers and share croppers brightened. All those successes have been seriously jeopardized by wrong policies and inaction by the TMC Government. The peasants, burdened under price rise and black marketing of fertilizers and other inputs failed to get remunerative prices of their products. Paddy, jute and potato growers were hit hardest. A spate of farmers’ suicides has taken place in agriculturally rich districts like Burdwan. The peasants’ discontent has been expressed through the unprecedented strike in rural areas.

AIKS (Harekrishna Konar Bhaban) state president Madan Ghosh has termed the success of the strike ‘beyond expectation’. The peasants’ protest has come also in the backdrop of reign of terror in many districts and a silent terror in almost every part of the state. The peasants defied the fear and marched in rallies in places. CITU had called upon the rural unorganized working people to join the peasants in strike. In many districts CITU brought out rallies in support of the strike.

Ghosh warned that the peasants would be forced to continue struggles if the State Government failed in their duties. “The Centre has withdrawn subsidy on fertiliser. They are not considering the plight of the farmers while determining the support price for paddy and other agricultural products. In our state more than 12 farmers have committed suicide as they failed to repay the loans they had obtained from money lenders at higher rate of interests. The State Government is not procuring paddy directly from the farmers by paying them the support price fixed by the Centre. We cannot allow the State Government to ignore the farmers and we will support the General strike called by trade unions on February 28," Ghosh said on Wednesday.

He also came down heavily on the West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee for her Government's failure to procure paddy from the farmers by giving them the minimum support price fixed up by the Centre. "The State Government has procured just 2 lakh metric tonnes of rice against their target of collecting 20 lakh metric tonnes. Naturally, the farmers are in distress and not in a position to sell their product. Never in the Left Front regime, had such a pathetic situation occurred in our state," complained Ghosh.