THE 23rd Rajasthan state conference of the CPI(M) was held in Sikar from October 31 to November 2, 2021. It began with flag hoisting by Hetram Beniwal, a senior leader of the Party. After paying floral tributes at the martyr's altar, the open session of the conference commenced which was presided over by Brijendra Singh Mil.

Inaugurating the conference, former general secretary of CPI(M) and Party's Polit Bureau member, Prakash Karat said that the RSS and the BJP-led government in nexus with the corporate houses, are forcing Hindutva ideology on the common people in the country. While the world was reeling under the impact of the pandemic, when saving the lives of the masses should have been the utmost priority, the Modi government saw it as a golden chance to scrap the 44 labour laws, and introduced unilaterally without debate three agricultural laws and four labour codes 

For the last eleven months, the farmers of the country have been sitting in protest on the Delhi borders, but the Modi government is adamant on its stance and is not negotiating with the farmers. The workers of the country are fighting on the streets against the policies of privatisation and corporatisation implemented by the Modi-led central government. It is privatising all the public sector undertakings like airlines, railways, coal, banks and insurance. After independence, we forged an understanding that the industries of strategic importance would remain with the public sector, but on the contrary, the Modi government has decided to privatize the ordnance factories producing weapons for our defence forces. The workers of all the 41 arms manufacturing ordnance factories of the country have strongly opposed this and have organised major strikes, he said.

Referring to the lakhs of deaths due to Covid-19, Prakash Karat said that all the parties that have come to power after independence till now, have  not taken any concrete steps to strengthen the health infrastructure. Even today, the entire expenditure on health is much less than 1 per cent of the total GDP. Talking about the  CPI(M)-led Left Front government’s health policies in Kerala, he said that 99 per cent of the patients infected with corona have been treated absolutely free of cost in government hospitals. There has also been remarkable progress in the field of education as students from private schools are enrolling themselves in government schools. This is very evident by the fact that the number of admission in government schools in Kerala is increasing by four lakh students every year.

Hannan Mollah, Polit Bureau member of CPI(M) and in-charge of the Party's Rajasthan Committee, also addressed the delegates and said that this conference is being held at a very important juncture. The land of Sikar has always been the land of farmers' movement. In districts like Sri Ganganagar, Hanumangarh, Sikar, Udaipur, our Party has successfully emerged as a significant organisation and captured the attention of the masses. He hoped with this conference, the Party would be able to expand in some other districts as well. He noted that the impact of neo-liberal reforms has been such that 52 farmers commit suicide everyday in our country. Hence the demand that the three black laws which ruined agriculture should be repealed and a law should be made giving legal guarantee to the minimum support price of crops, becomes pertinent in this context. Apathy of the government is such that it is not showing willingness to engage with farmers, on the contrary, the ruling party at the centre and its hindutva allies are indulging in promoting hooliganism to discredit the farmers movement. The whole country has witnessed how an arrogant son of the minister brutally trampled five farmers with his car in Lakhimpur Kheri.

Amraram, state secretary of the Party, addressing the open session, said that BJP and Congress have only looted and plundered the common people of the state and its resources. It is the red flag of the Party that organized historic Mahapadav in the capital against the hike in electricity rates in the state. Similarly, we struggled for canal water in Sriganganagar, carried movements in Churu and Hanumangarh for crop insurance claims and fought for the tribal rights over forests in Udaipur and Dungarpur.

J S Majumdar, Party Central Committee member also addressed the session. Kishan Parik, Party district secretary of Sikar, while welcoming the representatives from different districts and Party members and sympathizers, thanked the Party's state committee for giving Sikar district a chance to host the 23rd state conference.

DELEGATE SESSION

While placing the political organisational report on behalf of the state committee before the delegate session, Amraram said that the BJP is speedily carrying forward the Congress’ policies of neoliberalism and globalisation, in order to give a free hand to the corporate houses to loot the wealth of the country. As a result, the condition of the general people in the country has become precarious.

The economic policies of BJP and Congress are not very different, and due to this, the majority of the people of the country, especially farmers and workers are forced to live a life of hardships and plight even after many decades of independence. The Modi government has failed on every front, he said and gave details of its mishandling the Covid situation and the failure on the vaccination front. He said, inflation has broken all records during the tenure of the Modi government and cited the recurring hikes in the prices of petroleum products and of nearly all food items which have been soaring to an all-time high.

Amraram said the historic farmers' movement going on in the country is now going to complete its first anniversary on November 26. He referred to many mass mobilisations like the nationwide rasta roko, rail roko and Bharat bandh under the banner of the farmer’s movement in which crores of people participated. In Rajasthan too, kisan mahapanchayats have been organised in many places including Sikar, Jhunjhunu, Sri Ganganagar, Hanumangarh, Nagaur, Jaipur and Alwar. The huge kisan mahapanchayat held in Muzaffarpur of Uttar Pradesh entered a new phase by giving the slogan of ‘BJP Hatao’ in the next assembly elections. The sheer stubbornness of the Modi government still continues in the face of the anger among the farmers and the working class movements in the country. The last dialogue of the farmer leaders with the Modi government took place on January 22. Since then, the government has made no efforts to resume the talks to resolve the farmers issues. The movement has now become a question of life and death for the farmers across the country.

Placing the report in the context of Rajasthan, Amraram said that the Congress-led state government of Rajasthan has not been able to fulfill its election promises. The top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had promised the farmers of Rajasthan to waive their entire loans in ten days, but the loans of the farmers were not waived. The Gehlot government, which has imposed the highest VAT on petrol and diesel in the country, remains an enemy of the domestic electricity consumers of Rajasthan. By hugely increasing the fixed charges and other charges, pockets of consumers are being robbed. He further added that  unemployment is at its peak, be it REET or patwari examination or any other examination, the number of participants has exceeded 16 lakhs. All competitive examinations have become a laboratory of corruption. The law and order situation in the state is deteriorating. Cases of atrocities on women and dalits are increasing rapidly. Police and all government departments have become dens of corruption.

In Rajasthan, the main opposition party BJP is busy fighting its own internal battle, its leaders have forgotten the role of opposition, they are not bothered about the problems of the people. The work of BJP leaders in Rajasthan is now limited to making statements in favour of the Modi government, he said.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has forged movements in every district of Rajasthan to resolve the problems faced by the common people. On September 16, a 14-point demand letter was given to the Gehlot government after a huge meeting at Sikar Krishi Mandi. Recently, we mobilised masses to lead a big movement in Sriganganagar regarding canal water. In Churu district, thousands of farmers could claim crop insurance after our mass struggle in the district. Similarly, in Hanumangarh, our Party along with others is agitating against giving godowns of the Government of India to the Reliance Company. The Party is working for a Left democratic alternative in the state.

The proceedings of the conference, which were divided into five sessions, the political organisational report and various proposals were discussed critically. 64 delegates took part in the debate on the report. Of the 209 delegates present, 20 were women. 15 resolutions were passed which included, eliminating unemployment by providing job opportunities, universal vaccination and health care, against the ongoing attacks on democracy, stopping inflation, against atrocities on dalits and fight for social equality, struggle for women's rights, against efforts to sell the country's wealth and privatisation, against the National Monetisation Pipeline, abolition of 44 labour laws by passing four labour codes and the enslavement of workers through anti-worker legal changes, on the problems of the farm labourers, on the urban problems, against the differential education policy, against costly electricity and privatisation of electricity, for guarantee of minimum support price for crops and in support of farmers' movement, for the issue of tribals etc. All the resolutions were unanimously passed.

Amraram replied to the discussions on the political-organisational report of the Party, which was then passed with a majority.

The conference unanimously elected a 35-member state committee with an eight-member secretariat. Along with these members, Party Central Committee member Vasudev Sharma, former MLAs, Hetram Beniwal and Ravindra Shukla, who have crossed the age of 75, were included as permanent invitees and Sher Singh Shakya, Jhabar Rad and Chandrakala Verma were included as special invites to the state committee. Amraram was re-elected as the state secretary for the third time and along with him, Phool Chand Berber, Sumitra Chopra, Rameshwar Verma, Duli Chand Meena, Kishan Pareek, Sheopat Ram Meghwal and Chhagan Lal Choudhary were elected to the secretariat.

Hannan Mollah, speaking at the concluding session of the conference, emphasised that the farmers movement is an opportunity for us to establish lively connections with the farmers and their families and it should be utilised to broaden and strengthen our organisational base.

Kishan Pareek, secretary of the reception committee, thanked all the volunteers and all other people who contributed and worked to make the conference a success.