THE 22nd Odisha state conference of CPI(M) held in the Steel City of Rourkela from November 30 to December 2, 2021 (Banamali Dhupal Nagar and Marsha Samad Manch) gave the clarion call to strengthen the Party and mass organisations by developing day-to-day contact with the people of the state on the burning issues they face and to broaden the struggles. A total number of 158 delegates, 46 observers and two special invitees attended the conference.

Bonai, the mining hub of Odisha, hosted the open session of the conference (Lili Mohan Gope Manch). Large number of people with an overwhelming presence of tribals took part in the open session. Men and women, through their drumbeats of folk dance, added life and vigour to the marching.

The Party flag was hoisted by CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury and Polit Bureau member Suryakanta Mishra and all the delegates joined in paying floral tributes to the martyrs’ column.

The meeting was presided over by CPI(M) MLA from Bonai Laxman Munda, who is also the working chairman of the reception committee.

At the outset, Sitaram Yechury released the Odia translated book of the classic novel Ten Days That Shook the World by John Reed.

Addressing the gathering, Yechury urged them to learn from the victorious struggle of the peasants and intensify the struggle to defeat the pro-corporate, communal and Hindutva agenda of the BJP which is the political arm of the fascistic RSS. Suryakanta Mishra urged upon the BJD government to oppose Modi government’s disastrous policies at the central level instead of indulging in a mock fight with the BJP in the state. The open session was also addressed by Party’s state secretary Ali Kishor Patnaik and state secretariat member Janardan Pati, chairman of the reception committee Bishnu Mohanty, and Sundargarh district secretary of CPI(M), Pramod Samal.

The delegate session started the same evening at Rourkela auditorium named as Banamali Dhupal Nagar. Inaugurating the conference, Sitaram Yechury dealt in detail the present international and national situation and also the tasks ahead. The pandemic, he said, has once again proved the superiority of the socialist system over the exploitative capitalist system. While the socialist China and Cuba could contain and limit the disastrous effects of Covid, the most developed capitalist countries like USA and the EU miserably failed to protect human lives. Neoliberal economic policies, he said, have increased inequality, poverty, hunger and joblessness. On the other hand, there are growing struggles all over the world including our own country against these policies and also rise of rightist forces to divide and disrupt this struggle. Coming down heavily on the pro-corporate and anti-people policies of the Modi government, he urged upon the delegates to dispassionately discuss the successes and shortcomings so as to draw proper lessons and chalk out future tasks.

 Sitaram Yechury felicitated two veteran comrades, former  state secretariat member Rabinarayan Mallick and former state committee member Rabi Patnaik, who attended the conference as special invitees.

 Placing the political-organisational report, Ali Kishor Patnaik explained that due to Covid, the conference is being held after a delay of one year. The report dealt with the political situation of the state. The analysis of the last state conference proved to be correct as can be seen from the developments of the last four years. Though the BJD is the major political force in Odisha, it has become an undeclared ally and supporter of the Modi government’s anti- people, pro-corporate and anti-federal policies at the centre, notwithstanding the BJD-BJP mock fight in the state. Taking advantage of such vacillations of the BJD and the decline in the influence of the Congress party, the BJP has emerged as the second largest force in the state pushing the Congress to the distant third position.

On the organisational front, the report noted that our work expanded in certain tribal districts like Malkanagiri, Kalahandi and Rayagada facing extremely difficult situation. The report underlined the need to widen and consolidate the influence of the Party in the state by reaching to the people, by mobilising them on the issues of their lives and livelihood. Also, the report emphasised the need to ideologically equip the comrades and Party units to face the challenges posed by the Hindutva forces through their well planned sinister and obscurantist propaganda.     

As many as 59 delegates from different districts, units and fronts participated in the debate which lasted for seven long hours. The report was passed unanimously after the summing up by Janardan Pati on behalf of the steering committee. Ali Kishor Patnaik started the summing up, but he was completely grief struck at the sad demise of Comrade Basanta Nanda due to massive heart attack at the conference venue itself. The conference observed a minute’s silence and was adjourned for 15 minutes to pay homage to the departed comrade.         

The conference passed 14 resolutions on pressing issues.

A 30-member state committee was elected by the conference. Ali Kishor Patnaik was reelected as secretary of the state committee. The conference also elected six delegates and three alternate delegates to the Party Congress.

Suryakanta Mishra in his concluding remarks has stated that we should not be overtaken by successes of setbacks and as Marxists we should focus on four things: ideology, politics, organisation and struggle. He called upon the delegates to build a strong party including more and more young comrades and broadening the base through mass fronts and mass movements.

Comrade Basanta Nanda

ON December 2, moments after the last day of the Party state conference began, Comrade Basanta Nada, a delegate, collapsed in the venue itself due to a massive heart attack. He was instantly shifted to a hospital but could not be saved. Everybody was shocked. The conference proceedings were adjourned and a condolence resolution was adopted. An atmosphere of grief and sorrow prevailed in the conference till the end.

Basanta Nanda was 57 years and was a delegate from Ganjam district. He joined the Party in 1984 through the student movement. He played an active role to build the SFI in the eighties and became the secretary of Berhampur local committee of the Party and continued for a long time and was Ganjam district secretariat member of the Party at the time of death.

The body of Comrade Nanda was brought to the conference venue in the afternoon and floral tributes were paid by Suryakanta Mishra and all the delegates and then the body was taken to Berhampur. It was kept in the Shaheed Laxman Nayak Community Hall, which houses the Ganjam district committee office of the Party for paying last respects and then the body was donated on December 3 to the Department of Anatomy of the MKCG Medical College, Berhampur.

This is the eighth body donated to the MKCG Medical College in its 64 years of existence. Out of these eight, four have been donated by the CPI(M) in Berhampur. CPI(M) is actively working for body and organ donation  in the district and Comrade Nanda was playing an active part in this. He had also pledged in 2018 to donate his body and to fulfil his wishes, his family members volunteered to hand over the body to the anatomy department instead of following religious norms of cremation.   

(Ali Kishor Patnaik)