THE 5^TH Chhattisgarh state conference of CPI(M) was held successfully from March 15 to March 17 in the Steel City of Bhilai. The conference gave a call to intensify movements on issues facing the people on their day-to-day lives, build struggle on the question of land, fight against the communal agenda of the ruling party both in the state and at the Centre, and to make the Party capable of becoming a power to intervene actively in issues concerning the people. CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat, Central Secretariat members Hannan Mollah and Jogendra Sharma, and Madhya Pradesh state secretary Badal Saroj were present at the three-day conference.

The conference began on March 15 with S Kumar, the first secretary of Chhattisgarh State Committee and the oldest delegate, unfurling the Party flag. The venue was named after Comrade Samar Mukherjee and the conference manch after Comrade R Umanath. After the flag hosting, guests, delegates and observers paid floral tributes at the martyrs’ column. Party state secretariat member B Sanyal placed the condolence resolutions in the inaugural session. S P Dey, the Reception Committee chairman, welcomed the delegates. A three-member presidium comprising B Sanyal, J S Sodhi and Anjana Babar presided over the conference.

Inaugurating the conference, Hannan Mollah explained in details the role of Party members at all levels in deciding the Political-Tactical line of the Party to be placed before the 21^st Congress. He said resistance movements of the people against the anti-people economic policies getting accentuated day by day and the world is becoming multi-polar in the process. Despite its disastrous outcome, the Modi government is entering into strategic agreements and making all out attacks on the living standards of the people aligning with the corporate sector. Mollah slammed the BJP, RSS and all other Hindutva forces for disturbing the communal harmony of the country only to weaken the unity of the working class. He called upon the Party members and cadres to combat the communal forces in the field of struggle. Mollah urged the party members to wage struggles against casteism, untouchability and other kinds of discriminations.

Public Rally

An impressive and colorful rally was taken out in the Steel City in the March 15 afternoon, which drew the attention of the people and the media. The public meeting was presided over by B Sanyal. Addressing the rally, Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat made hard hitting attacks on the neo-liberal and communal policies of the BJP-led government. Referring to the Union Budget, Karat said while the budget gave concessions to the corporate firms to the tune of Rs 5.89 lakh crore, there is nothing for the workers, peasants, students, youths, Dalit, Adivasis and other deprived section of the people. On the contrary, there is curtailment of funds and allocations in comparison to the earlier budget. This government has nothing to offer to the Aanganwadi and Mid-Day Meal workers and the workers under the MGNREGA. The government is on the path of wholesale disinvestments of the public sector undertakings like Bhilai Steel Plant, at the same time it wants to snatch lands of the poor peasants only to benefit the Corporate India so that they can loot and plunder the natural resources of the country. Terming the RSS as “Rashtriya Sarwanash Samiti”, Karat said it is desperately trying to divide India in the name of religion and is getting support from the governments both in the state and at the Centre. She called upon the people of the country to develop sustained movements against the BJP-RSS combine.

Addressing the rally, Hannan Mollah termed the ‘Gujarat Model’ as the ‘land-grabbing model’, which the Modi government is trying to implement in the entire country. He vehemently opposed the proposed land acquisition act as a legacy of the British Rule and asked the people to stand against it to squarely defeat the ill-motivated move of the government. Addressing the rally, Jogendra Sharma thoroughly exposed the Modi and Raman Singh governments for their anti-people policies. He called on the people to relentlessly fight against the neo-liberal economic policies and the communal agenda of the BJP-RSS combine. M K Nandy, the state secretary of the Party, also addressed the public meeting.

Political-Organisational Report

In the morning of March 16, state committee secretary M K Nandy presented the political-organisational report before the conference. The report analysed the prevailing political, social and economic situations in the state. It also listed the challenges before the Party which could be met only through strengthening the organisation, by overcoming the weaknesses noticed during various activities carried out in the past three years. Nandy narrated in details the problems being faced by the people of the state under the BJP rule. The report noted that the people of the state were mainly polarised between two bourgeoisie parties, which needs to be broken through our relentless struggle on local issues. For this, all sections of the society including students, youths, women, workers, Dalit, Adivasis and peasants have to be mobilised against the neo-liberal policies and communalism that are directly affecting the people. He also laid stress on a proper cadre policy and called upon the comrades to come out from the notion of limitation of individuals so that it does not become the limitation of the Party. Fifty-three delegates participated in the debate on the report, after which it was adopted unanimously.

The convener of the Credential Committee placed its report before the conference giving details of the 117 delegates, 114 of whom submitted credential forms. Of them, 109 were delegates and five observers. Thirty delegates came from the working class and 83 from the peasantry. Twenty-six delegates were Adivasis, five Dalits, 35 OBC and five from the minority communities. The oldest delegate was S Kumar and the youngest Chandrakant Singh. Thirty-five delegates were related to the trade union movement. Forty delegates attended the conference for the first time while 15 delegates attended all the five conferences. Seven comrades were illiterate while 39 were graduate and postgraduate. Sixty-nine comrades earned less than Rs 5,000 a month while 14 comrades had monthly income of more than Rs 14,000. The Credential Committee report noted that majority of the delegates did not read the Party mouthpiece, Lok Lahar.

Election & Conclusion

The conference elected a 25-member state committee (keeping one seat vacant) with Sanjay Parate as the secretary. An eight-member state secretariat was also elected with Sanjay Parate, M K Nandy, B Sanyal, Dharmaraj Mahapatra, Vakil Bharti, Jitendra Singh Sodhi, Bal Singh, and A K Lal as members.

Other state committee members are Lallan Soni and Surendra Lal Singh (Surajpur); Rishi Gupta and Krishna Kumar (Sarguja); Gajendra Jha (Rajnandgaon); Roopdhar Dhruw and Pradeep Gabhne (Raipur); S N Banerjee, Dhan Bai, and Sapuran Kuldeep (Korba); Sukhranjan Nandy (Bastar); R B Bharti and Shant Kumar (Durg); Basudeb Das (Kanker); Rabi Banerjee (Bilaspur); and Raja Ram (Korea). Ashok Sinha is the Special Invitee to the state committee.

The conference elected five delegates for the 21st Party Congress to be held in April. They are Sanjay Parate, M K Nandy, R B Bharti, Dharmaraj Mahapatra and A K Lal. There will be two observers -- Lallan Soni and Rishi Gupta.

The conference concluded with an address Party’s Central Secretariat member Jogendra Sharma. The conference gave a clarion call to the delegates to leave no stone unturned to ensure that the Chhattisgarh unit of CPI(M) becomes a prominent feature in the political map of the state, and the state unit becomes an important contingent of the all India Party.