THE three day (September 24-26) Delhi state conference of the CPI(M) started with an open session addressed by Sitaram Yechury, general secretary and Brinda Karat, Polit Bureau member in-charge of the state.

Yechury observed that the BJP-RSS government has done immense damage to secular democracy, federalism, social justice and self reliance. The country is sliding into poverty as it has the maximum number of those below poverty line in the world now and still the Modi government is unwilling to yield to the genuine demands of cash transfer and free rations. The government is reluctant to talk to the farmers who are on a historic struggle for the last 10 months and the Bharat bandh on September 27 would mark the beginning of renewed struggles. Brinda Karat congratulated the Party ranks in Delhi for the stupendous relief efforts they undertook during the pandemic as well as in North-East Delhi after the horrific communal violence unleashed by the RSS-BJP. She urged the thousands gathered with a great majority being women to make sure that the message of the red flag reaches out to every house, basti and locality in the days to come.

The delegate session on September 25 started with the senior most comrade Jagdish Chand Sharma unfurling the Party flag. The condolence resolution was moved by Maimoona Mollah. The delegate session was inaugurated by Prakash Karat, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member. He said the  pandemic has exacerbated the sufferings of the people in the capitalist countries including ours and capitalist character to profiteer even in its midst is evident. The new US President Biden is on a fresh effort to encircle China with the help of new allies through AUKUS and QUAD. The Modi government is pushing for a neo-liberal, corporate-hindutva agenda and its policies have ensured a transfer of wealth from people to the corporates. The RSS-BJP is seeking the support of corporates through the National Monetisation Pipeline towards the Hindurashtra. CPI(M)’s biggest challenge in the coming days would be to expose this Hindu communalism which is masquerading as nationalist so much so that the 2019 elections has made Hindutva as a common sense in the North and Western parts of the country. He said the need of the hour is to build and assert the independent strength of the Party.

The conference adopted resolutions against communalism, neo-liberal policies, on women and dalit questions as well as on public health in Delhi. KM Tiwari presented the report of the state committee before the delegates. The 151 page report critically reviewed the work of the Party and the mass organisations since the last conference, the relief efforts undertook by the Party at the communal violence ravaged NE Delhi, during the national lockdown and Covid-19 second wave. The seven-hour long discussion over the report had the participation of 66 delegates representing the local committees, district committees ? OC, state committee and state fraction committees.

The weaknesses to build local struggles on mass issues in a consistent manner was raised by the delegates. They also raised concern about the decline in TU membership and noted the changes in the newly adopted labour laws which prevent the functioning of the unions and fixed term jobs replacing the permanent posts. The necessity to bring the 'woman question' to the centre stage of the Party, to be adopted by all mass organisations, was brought to the attention of the conference by a number of delegates. Those who spoke from the cultural fraction underlined the need for cultural intervention in struggles as against a mode used just to ‘pull crowds’. The need for increased Party intervention at the localities to keep up with the consistent work in the youth front, the requirement to step up the mass membership and draw more whole-timers in the coming days from the student front to the Party, the need for Party building along with the good work of the teachers front in elected bodies, and requisite Party education to strengthen the political-ideological consciousness of the members to take on the right wing RSS-BJP were the other major discussion points raised by others.

KM Tiwari replied to the discussions of the delegates. Brinda Karat gave a spirited call to take on the RSS-BJP threat in the coming days. She also listed the immediate tasks before the state Party including the upcoming MCD elections and strengthening the mass fronts. 

The conference re-elected KM Tiwari as the state secretary. The 30-member state committee elected a nine-member state secretariat as well. The conference was attended by 52 women comrades out of a total of 158. The outgoing state committee had already adopted the Central Committee guidelines and fixed the upper limit for the entry age at 62 and relieving age at 72, hence nine members have newly joined in the 30-member state committee with three invitees. The average age of the state committee members is now 53.