THE three day Ernakulam district conference of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), held at the historic town of Thripunithura, from January 13 –15, was a grand success. 

CPI(M) state secretary Pinarayi  Vijayan who inaugurated the conference criticised the United Democratic Front(UDF) government’s decision to withdraw the case registered against Kerala Students Union(KSU) activists for pouring used engine oil on an IAS officer. Pinarayi said the action would make the government officials insecure. He said the state government had earlier withdrawn cases registered against a few who attacked a police officer and another one registered against Viswa Hindu Parishad leader Praveen Togadia. Pinarayi said such acts of the government would lead to anarchy. 

Pinarayi accused the BJP and the RSS of attempting  to divide the society along communal lines.  He said the RSS was attempting to infiltrate even into organisations that had led social reform movements in the state.  Chief Minister Oomen Chandy was appeasing the RSS, he said.

Pinarayi dealt with international, national and local events in his address that comrades of the Party need to take note of. He said that with America slogging around 2 per cent GDP growth, the crisis facing the capitalist  nation had come to the fore, where as socialist countries are joining hands to fight poverty through experiments like ‘alternative world bank’.  In India, Modi is following the same neo-liberal agenda as that of the previous UPA government, he said.

Party senior leader C V Ouseph hoisted the flag marking the beginning of the conference.  CPI(M) district secretary C M Dinesh Mani, P Rajeev  MP, K Chandran Pillai and K J Jacob were among those who led the proceedings.

Addressing a seminar on  labour policies, organised as part of the district conference,  CITU all India vice president K N Ravindranath  said changes in the labour laws  would enable further exploitation of the working class of the country.

The district conference concluded with a massive public meeting  at Thripunithura, addressed by the leader of the opposition in the Kerala assembly, V S Achuthanandan and Pinarayi Vijayan.   Achuthanandan criticised the anti-people policies of the state and central governments. He also condemned  the retrograde approach of the government towards the problems of the public sector undertakings in the country in general and Kerala in particular.

The conference adopted the report presented by the district secretary Dinesh Mani, which analysed the reasons for the Party’s setback in the last general election.

The conference expressed concern over a leading IT company’s decision to retrench thousands of employees on the ground of inefficiency.

The conference unanimously elected P Rajeev, as the district secretary of the Party. The three-day meet also elected 43 district committee members and 38 representatives for the upcoming state-level meeting. Rajeev said he would focus on strengthening the Party which had a conducive environment in the district.  He said issues of the marginalised sections, effects of urbanisation and environmental fallout of urban development would all be taken up seriously by the Party in Ernakulam.

A variety of cultural, art programmes and exhibitions,  marked the conference, which started on January 5, giving the town a festive look.  A food-agro exhibition, prior to the conference was a big hit.  A literary session was inaugurated by well-known poet  S Rameshan.  Young volunteers also presented revolutionary  Malayalam songs. 

At a special function, senior artists from various fields were felicitated by P Rajeev.