THE 13th Karnataka state conference of CITU was held successfully from October 17 to 19 at Kudalasangama in Bagalakote in the northern part of the state. Kudalasangama is a historical place where a movement for uplift of the downtrodden had began in the 12th century. In the 12th century, Basavanna was the finance minister under King Bijjala and he started the famous ‘vachana chaluvali’, along with ‘sharanas’, for the uplift of the downtrodden in society. Basavanna was a Brahmin by birth, but he dedicated his whole life for the cause of Dalit and other oppressed classes. They tried to destroy the caste system and performed inter-caste marriage between Brahmins and Dalits. This movement is still inspiring the fight against social and economic equality. But unfortunately, for the past decade, the right wing forces have occupied this historical land and gained political benefit. This is a very big political challenge for the entire working class movement of Karnataka.

Against this background, the 13th state conference of CITU began on October 17 with a huge workers’ rally at district centre Bagalakote. More than 5,000 workers took part in the rally. CITU general secretary Tapan Sen was the main speaker at the public meeting. In his speech, he explained how the Modi government’s economic policies were spoiling the whole working class of the county and, in particular, the unorganised sector which employs the largest workforce without any social security. He said more than 18 crore working people registered their protest on September 2 against this polices during the all-India strike. Even after this protest, the central government continues to pursue pro-corporate steps, he said and called upon the working class to intensify their agitation so as to compel the Centre to reverse its anti-people polices. CITU state secretary S Varalakshmi, president VJK Nair and vice president Meenakshi Sundaram also addressed the rally. CITU national secretary K Hemalata was present.

On October 18, the delegate session began with flag hosting by VJK Nair. The conference was attended by 359 delegates, including 120 women. They represented 2,62,143 members. CITU state secretary Varalakshmi placed the organisational report before the conference. After that, K Hemalata spoke about how the Karnataka CITU had intervened in various workers’ issues in the past three years and the organisational weaknesses and challenges it is facing, as observed by all-India committee. Sixty delegates took part in the discussion on the general secretary’s report. Treasurer P K Parameswra submitted the statement of account. After the discussion, both reports of the general secretary and the treasurer were adapted by the conference.

Leaders from Kisan Sabha, All India Agricultural Workers Union, AIDWA, SFI, DYFI, BEFI, BSNLEU, AIIEA and AIUTUC delivered their fraternal greetings. The conference honoured R Srinivas and TKS Kutty who were released from jail, along with three other comrades, after 16 years. They were jailed because of a conspiracy by the BPL management for organising workers. The conference unanimously adapted several resolutions and future organisational tasks.

The conference elected 35 state office-bearers with S Varalakshmi as president, Meenakshi Sundaram as general secretary and Parameswar as treasurer. Six new faces were included in the team. A 142-member state committee was also elected unanimously and the conference announced names of 87 delegates for the 15th all-India conference to be held in Odisha. Tapan Sen delivered the concluding speech and laid emphasis on organisational issues. He called upon all cadres to concentrate their efforts on strengthening the organisation at all levels. Our hard work is the only way to overcome all anti-people polices being pursued by the ruling class, he said.