THE sixth state conferene of CPI(M) Chhattisgarh committee was held from February 1-3, 2018 at Bishrampur in Surajpur district. It gave a clarion call to defeat BJP and to strengthen the organisation and expand mass struggles to establish Left as the alternative political force in the state.  The conference was attended by 101 delegates, including four observers and eight women.

The conference started on February 1 with a massive and colourful tribal rally and a public meeting at Hospital Grounds. The dais was named as Comrade Fidel Castro Manch. The meeting was presided over by J S Sodhi and addressed by Jogendra Sharma, central secretariat member, J S Majumdar, Central Committee member, Sanjay Parate, state secretary, B Sanyal, Bal Singh, secretariat members Rishi Gupta, Lallan Soni and R V Bharati, state committee members.

Jogendra Sharma said that the anti-people policies pursued by both the central and state governments run by the BJP have made the life of the people more miserable. Price rise, unemployment, corruption have further increased. BJP is trying to divide the people in the name of religion, caste, creed etc. The attacks on minorities have increased. He referred to the election results of Rajasthan as an indication of people’s wish to defeat communal BJP and said we all should work for defeating BJP.

J S Majumdar explained how workers are exploited under the Modi government. He also referred to the various strikes of the workers in different industries including the historical all India strikes.

Sanjay Parate explained how in the last 14 years, the Raman Singh government has been implementing anti-people policies in the state. He referred to the acute agricultural crisis in the state.

INAUGURAL SESSION

The conference started with flag hoisting by senior leader, Peeyar Singh. All leaders and delegates paid floral tributes to the martyrs. The conference venue was named as Comrade Sukomal Sen Nagar and the dais as Comrade Nurul Huda Manch. Both the leaders were in charge of the state for CITU and Kisan Sabha.

Vakil Bharati, Bal Singh and Dhanbai Kuldeep were elected as the members of the presidium. Gajendra Jha, S R Nandi and A K Lal were elected as convenors of minutes committee, credential committee and resolution committee. Secretariat members formed the steering committee. After the condolence resolution, Bal Singh, chairman of the reception committee welcomed the delegates. Jogendra Sharma inaugurated the conference. He explained the present national and international political situation. He gave a call that we must strengthen our Party in Chhattisgarh on the basis of which we can build up unity of the democratic-secular forces to defeat the communal forces led by BJP and RSS. Sitaram Yechury, general secretary was scheduled to attend the conference, but could not due to Tripura assembly elections. He sent a message to the conference which was read out by Sanjay Parate. Jaswinder Singh, Madhya Pradesh state secretary of CPI(M) also greeted the conference.

DELEGATE SESSION

Sanjay Parate placed the political-organisational report. The report explains the situation of people in Chhattisgarh under the BJP government. There is agricultural and industrial crisis.  Human rights are trampled; communal forces are attacking the minorities and their institutions. Law and order situation is in doldrums. Thousands of workers are losing their jobs due to closure of the factories. The government is forcefully trying to acquire the tribal lands to hand it over to corporates.

The organisational part of the report dealt with the weak functioning of the different committees. After the last Party state conference, Party membership decreased by 17 per cent and mass organisations membership by 20 per cent. He said we have to overcome these weaknesses. We have to develop local movements on peoples issues, mass organisations will have to be made more active. Regular functioning of different committees is very much needed, specially branch and local committee functioning. Party education will also have to be improved. Regular reading of Party papers, books is also needed. Every Party member should be a subscriber of Party paper. The Party gave a call for Rs 3 lakhs Party fund collection every year. The report appreciated the Korba and Balrampur districts for conducting the various movements on local issues.

A total of 37 delegates from 10 districts and six fronts participated in the discussion. State secretary replied to the queries of the delegates. The report was unanimously adopted.

S R Nandi placed the credential report. 22 delegates were below 40 years. 48 delegates joined the Party after 2001. 39 delegates were graduates or above. 50 delegates were district or local committee members. 7 delegates were whole-timers. 37 belonged to tribals, 9 dalits, 25 backward castes and 4 minorities. Yearly income of 44 delegates was less than Rs 50,000. 34 delegates attended the state conference for the first time. Rishi Gupta was in jail for 21 months. 40 delegates were from trade unions, 23 from agricultural front, 16 from tribal front, 6 from women and 6 from youth front. Only 51 delegates were subscribers of Party papers. 47 delegates attended Party classes during the period.

A 25-member new state committee with two permanent invitees was formed. Sanjay Parate was re-elected as the state secretary. It was decided to form the state secretariat after the Party Congress.

The conference elected five delegates for Party Congress. The new state committee elected two comrades as observers. 

The concluding session was addressed by Jogendra Sharma and J S Majumdar. The conference concluded by singing the International Song.