The neo-liberal offensive, communal onslaught, attack on democratic institutions and the regressive foreign policy being pursued by the Modi government can be fought only by strengthening the CPI(M), Party general secretary Sitaram Yechury said. A strong organisation is the only vehicle to ensure that our political line reaches the people, he said, and gave a clarion call to strengthen the links between the Party and the common man so as to build a revolutionary party with a mass line.
He was speaking at the two-day extended meeting of the Rajasthan state committee which began on September 10 at Mazdoor Kisan Bhawan in Jaipur. The meeting was chaired by Phool Chand Barbar and Sumitra Chopra. CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Hannan Mollah was present in the meeting. Eighty-two comrades from 20 districts and other units participated in the meeting.
After inaugurating the meeting, Yechury spoke on the country’s current situation. He said that Hindutva and communal forces have been on the offensive ever since the Modi government assumed office. Neo-liberal economic policies are being implemented aggressively furthering interests of multinational corporations and Indian corporate sector. Democratic institutions are under attack. Even parliamentary norms are being bypassed. The Modi government’s foreign policy has surrendered the country’s interests before American imperialism.
Yechury said that only Left and democratic forces can fight back these attacks on the Indian people. He highlighted the importance of building a strong CPI(M) to build a Left and democratic front in the country. He explained in detail the main points of the Kolkata Plenum on Organisation. He said the Party is at present too weak to make effective intervention in political situation in our country. Hence, to make our Party effective and strong enough, Kolkata Plenum has emphasised to implement a ‘Mass Line’ which means to take CPI(M) politics to the people. For this, it is necessary to take up local issues and mobilise masses in the activities of the Party and mass organisations. He said that to implement a ‘Mass Line’, improvement in the quality of Party membership is a must and for this, improvement in the functioning of the branch committee is very necessary.
Yechury spoke on ‘Party and Mass Organisations’. He warned about two types of deviations in our work among mass organisations. Quality membership and functioning of sub-committees and fractions can help our Party in fighting these deviations. To build a ‘Revolutionary Party with Mass Line’, a well-thought-out cadre policy is must. The main task of the leadership is to identify cadre and correctly evaluate their potentials. The Party should take care of well-being of our cadres and give them reasonable wages, he said.
The draft report for the state plenum was placed by Central Committee member Vasudev. Explaining the background and the preparations made for the state plenum, he said that after the Party Congress, a detailed questionnaire was received from the centre. The replies to this comprehensive questionnaire and the reports from the mass organisations form the basis for the report on organisation. The Rajasthan state committee held discussions on it in Udaipur before submitting it to the Central Committee. Vasudev outlined 52 issues that need to be employed to expand the influence of the Party and strengthen the organisation.

After the introduction of the draft report, the discussion on it began and continued for more than seven hours in two sessions. A total of 38 delegates participated in the discussion.
CPI(M) state secretary Amra Ram replied to the discussion on the draft. He said the direction given by the state plenum will be implemented in a time bound manner by all the district committees, district organisational committees and branches directly attached to the state centre in the forthcoming year and the state committee will review its implementation on all the 52 points.

Hannan Mollah delivered the concluding address. He laid stress on the quality of the Party members. He said focus should be on three stages -- recruitment stage, activity stage and quality stage. He said that for a Communist party, the importance of the organisation can never be understated. It is the Party’s main weapon. Without a well-oiled and efficient organisation, the Party cannot develop deep links with the common masses and champion their interests. He underlined the need for recruiting students, youth and women from their respective organisations to strengthen the Party. He called upon the delegates to address social issues in a big way. Among the social issues to be taken up by the entire Party are the struggle against gender oppression, discrimination against dalits, tribals and religious minorities.
The draft was later adopted unanimously. On behalf of the plenum, presidium member Phool Chand Barbar thanked the delegates.

Ban on cow vigiliante groups demanded
Speaking to media persons, Yechury demanded a ban on ‘gau raksha dals’ (cow vigilante groups) for spreading violence and communalism in the country. He said the RSS, Bajrang Dal and a few other Hindu organisations were backing these vigilante groups that were targeting dalits in the name of protecting cows.
The CPI(M) leader said communalism was a big challenge that the country faced ever since the BJP came to power in 2014. “In Haryana's Mewat region, biriyani samples were taken for checking for beef. This scared the people so much that this was their festival season but now they are not cooking biriyani,” Yechury said. He also referred to the alleged gang-rapes of two women in Mewat.

“Gau raksha dals enjoy tacit support from the centre. We asked the prime minister to give an assurance in parliament that this government will act against such groups that break laws. But the assurance has not come till date,” he said.
“Gau raksha dals have cropped up everywhere. They are deciding who is a culprit and who is not," Yechury said, adding that the country already had a law, police and administration to protect cows and did not the need vigilante groups. He said, “There is a political and electoral reason, too, behind this gau-raksha. These groups are trying to spread communalism ahead of the Uttar Pradesh election.”

The CPI(M) leader said another challenge that the country currently faced was the BJP government’s economic policies. “Farmer suicides have increased by 26 percent since 2014. Loans for farmers have not been excused but of the corporate houses have been excused to the tune of Rs 1.12 lakh crore in the form of NPAs. Oil prices are going down all over the world but these are increasing in India. The country has generated 1.30 crore unemployed youth every year, but this government has generated only 1.35 lakh jobs,” said Yechury.
He also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of reducing India to a “junior partner” of the USA. "India had an independent status in the world so far. We were seen as the leader of poor and developing countries. But now we are just a junior partner to guard the US interests in this region of the world," he said.
On the Kashmir issue, Yechury said the central government did not do its homework before taking the all-party delegation for talks in the Valley. “We carried no authority as the invitation (to separatists) for talks was not from the government,” the CPI(M) leader, who was a member of the delegation, said. He stressed that Kashmir problem can be solved through talks only.
Yechury said Rajasthan is the only state where there is still a separate ‘Gaupalan minister and ministry’. It is unfortunate that thousands of cows are dying due to negligence from state government. State secretary Amra Ram spoke about the deteriorating law and order situation, increase in crime and deepening crisis in the agriculture sector which is forcing the peasantry to commit suicide.