THREE class organisations in Maharashtra – CITU, AIKS, AIAWU – came together to hold their first-ever statewide joint struggle convention at Parbhani in the drought-stricken backward region of Marathwada on October 31, 2015. The aim was to launch massive statewide struggles of the working people on their burning problems which are getting aggravated with the neo-liberal policies of the BJP-led central and state governments; and to defend the unity of the toiling sections against the onslaught of the reactionary and divisive forces of communalism and casteism. The convention was being held in the background of the grand success of the September 2 All India strike by the working class and the sustained countrywide peasant struggle that forced the BJP central government to withdraw the hated Land Acquisition Ordinance. Over 300 leading activists from 25 districts attended this convention. MILITANT STRUGGLE AGAINST DROUGHT Parbhani district had been chosen to host the convention because two months earlier it had seen an intense struggle led by the AIKS on the issue of drought. On September 3, the BJP chief minister Devendra Fadnavis visited the district as part of his drought inspection tour. Hundreds of peasants led by AIKS state joint secretary Uddhav Poul, AIKS state council members Deepak Lipne and Limbaji Kachre and AIAWU state joint secretary Rameshwar Poul bombarded him with inconvenient questions during his first stop in Pathri tehsil, as a result of which he was forced to wind up his speech and he angrily left the spot. At his next stop in Parbhani tehsil, thousands of peasants led by the AIKS had gathered to demand drought relief from the chief minister. But he refused to stop there. The peasants turned restless and the police launched a vicious lathi-charge that injured scores of peasants and they also fired in the air to disperse the crowd. 11 activists of the AIKS were arrested and were brutally beaten in police lock-up. Led by AIKS state council member Vilas Babar, they were in jail for eight days. These episodes were widely covered by both the print and electronic media in the state and they brought ignominy on the BJP-Shiv Sena regime and its repressive and insensitive handling of the drought situation. To condemn the state government and its police for their brutality and to demand immediate drought relief measures, the CPI(M), AIKS and AIAWU organised a large rally in Parbhani city on October 1. CPI(M) central secretariat member and AIKS national joint secretary Dr Ashok Dhawale and CPI(M) Central Committee member, state secretary and CITU state president Narasayya Adam led this rally. INAUGURAL ADDRESS Parbhani city had been dressed up in red to welcome the delegates to the convention who had come from all over the state. There were red banners, red hoardings and red flags of all the three class fronts. The venue of the convention was named after former CITU national president B T Ranadive, the hall after former AIKS national president Godavari Parulekar and the dais after two veteran leaders of the Marathwada region – former AIKS state president Gangadhar Appa Burande and former AIAWU state president Vithalrao Naik. A presidium was elected comprising CITU state president Narasayya Adam, AIKS state president Dada Raipure and AIAWU state president Nathu Salve. After the condolence resolution and the welcome speech by Vilas Babar, the convention was inaugurated by CITU national general secretary Tapan Sen, MP. Tapan Sen congratulated the delegates and the leadership of all three class fronts for taking the initiative to hold this joint convention. He said the September 2 strike was historic because crores of organised and unorganised workers – 40 percent of whom were not even members of any union – joined the strike despite the last-minute betrayal by the BMS. At the same time, crores of peasants and agricultural workers also actively supported the strike and by road blockades brought large parts of the countryside to a halt. In many states, in fact, the strike took the form of a complete 'hartal'. Sen launched a scathing attack on the anti-people and pro-corporate policies of the Modi regime and came down heavily on its attacks on the working class as exemplified by its conspiracy to make reactionary changes in labour laws that would drive lakhs of workers into virtual slavery; its attacks on unorganised and scheme workers; the betrayal of its own assurances to give remunerative price to farmers; the slashing of funds for the MGNREGA which has severely hit agricultural workers; and the massive price rise of all essential commodities. All these measures of the BJP government, he charged, were meant to further enrich the corporate, big trader, hoarder and black marketeer lobby. He also warned against the nefarious attempts of the Sangh Parivar to splinter the unity of the working people by using the two divisive cards of communalism and casteism. He condemned the murder of secular and progressive stalwarts like Dabholkar, Pansare and Kalburgi by the Hindutva terrorist forces and denounced the killings of Muslims and dalit children at places like Dadri and Faridabad. He welcomed the resistance to all this that is building up in the country and stressed that rebuffing such divisive conspiracies and maintaining and strengthening the unity of the working people must be one of our key tasks today. RESOLUTION AND CALL TO ACTION The main resolution of the convention, which also had a charter of demands and a call to action, was placed by AIKS joint secretary Dr Ashok Dhawale. Copies of the 12-page printed resolution were given to all the delegates. While stressing the importance of, and the need for, forging a strong worker-peasant alliance through joint struggles, the resolution deals with the countrywide challenges facing the working class, the peasantry and agricultural workers, with special emphasis on the situation in Maharashtra. It also deals at length with the grave danger of communalism and casteism confronting the country and the state. The resolution points out that the BJP-led state government of Maharashtra has already made reactionary changes in some labour laws and more such changes are on the anvil. It has given hardly any relief for unorganised, contract and scheme workers. Its inaction on the grim drought situation that is today afflicting large parts of the state is nothing short of criminal, and this has already led to a big spurt in peasant suicides in Vidarbha, Marathwada and Khandesh regions. Even in such a situation, it has ruled out both compensation and debt relief for peasants and expansion of the MGNREGA for agricultural workers. The irrigation and water management policies of successive state governments – be they of the Congress-NCP or the BJP-Shiv Sena – have proved to be bankrupt and corrupt to the extreme. It is making moves to reverse the decades-old policy of barring non-adivasis from buying up the land of adivasis. The implementation of the Forest Rights Act is in shambles. The public distribution system is riddled with corruption and women are denied even the right to food grains. The back-breaking price rise is further hitting food security. The resolution ends with a charter of demands and gives a clarion call for action, as follows: 1. Sustained struggles on all issues of the working people from November 15; 2. A campaign against communalism and casteism from November 26 (Constitution Day) through November 28 (Mahatma Jotirao Phule death anniversary) to December 6 (Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar death anniversary, which is also the day that the Sangh Parivar chose to demolish the Babri Masjid); 3. A massive joint Jail Bharo stir on January 20, 2016, in which over one lakh people with red flags in all district and tehsil centres will fill the jails. After this first phase is completed on January 20, the three class fronts will decide the next phase of struggle. The resolution was effectively seconded by the three state general secretaries of the three class fronts - Dr D L Karad (CITU), Kisan Gujar (AIKS) and Baliram Bhumbe (AIAWU). Three leaders each from every organisation ably supported the resolution and they were: Dr S K Rege, Uddhav Bhavalkar and Ramesh Dahiwade of CITU, Uddhav Poul, Yashwant Zade and Dr Ajit Nawale of AIKS and Babasaheb Sarwade, Maroti Khandare and Prakash Choudhari of AIAWU. After the presidential speech by Narasayya Adam and the vote of thanks by AIAWU leader Rameshwar Poul, the convention ended with resounding slogans of worker-peasant unity in struggle.