THE union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a budding tourist destination, was a fertile land for the Left trade union movement since early 1960s. With the formation of the CPI (M) unit in the islands in 1983 at a special programme organised at Port Blair, attended among others by Com Harkishen Singh Surjeet, the Party, for quite a long time, was the alternative to the Congress Party and was the main anti-Congress focal point for the people till 1996 when the BJP emerged as a force to be reckoned with, at the instance  of  Sangh Parivar.     

The 11th Andaman & Nicobar state conference of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) was held at Atul Smrity Samity (Bengali Club), Port Blair on March 27.  The conference began at 9.30 am with the hosting of the Party Flag at the venue of the conference by K G Das, secretary, state organising committee amidst revolutionary slogans rendering the air. Thereafter, delegates and observers paid tributes to the martyrs at the specially erected Martyrs Memorial Column at the venue of the conference. D Ayyappan, state secretariat member briefly explained about the ongoing Party conferences in the country.

The condolence resolution was moved by T S Sreekumar, state organising committee member. Conference observed two minutes silence in memory of the leaders who lost their lives during the period under report. 

D Ayyappan, chairman, reception committee delivered the welcome speech.   K G Das placed the proposal for presidium, steering committee, minutes committee and credentials committee which was approved by the conference.  D Laxman Rao, B Chandrachoodan and P Banerjee were elected to the presidium while D Ayyappan, Gauranga Majhi and Projit Kumar Sarkar were elected to the steering committee. T S Sreekumar and K R Raj comprised the minutes committee while R Surendran Pillai and Rahul Dev Mirdha were in the credentials committee.  

Inaugurating the conference, G Ramakrishnan, Polit Bureau member of the CPI(M), dwelt at length the international and national situation. He said that despite the rightward shift in the world politics, it is heartening to note that people of a number of countries in the world particularly in Latin American countries are choosing Left governments in their countries.  Talking about the Russian attack on Ukraine, he said solution for any issue is not war. Discussing the background of the war, he narrated how the US was trying to rope in Ukraine into NATO, and how it was a potential threat to Russia.

Ramakrishnan said Savarkar is being portrayed as a freedom fighter despite the fact that he apologised to Britishers and got released from jail.  Savarkar’s photo is being put up along with the photograph of Gandhiji. He said that the RSS never participated in the freedom movement though it was formed in 1925. Ramakrishnan further said that government departments are being corporatised and then privatised. BJP government is handing over the public sector undertakings to their friends in the corporate world. There is no difference between the economic policies of the BJP and the Congress.  He said that the two-day all India General Strike on March 28-29 is not only for the workers but for the entire people of the country.  He called upon the people in Andaman & Nicobar Islands to support the CPI (M) so that various issues of the islanders can be taken up by the Party vigorously.  He said that Andaman & Nicobar Islands should have a democratic form of governance instead of present officers’ rule, in the form of a legislative assembly and till then there should restoration of the erstwhile Pradesh Council with more powers. 

K G Das presented the political and organisational report depicting the political situation in the islands and activities of the Party. P Banerjee, state organising committee member presented the audited accounts for the last four years.

Delegates from different parts of the union territory participated in the discussion which was very healthy and often based on self-criticism. Delegates expressed their unhappiness over the lack of coordination among the leaders and Party’s failure to take up people’s issues over the last four years. Many of them emphasized the need to strengthen the Party and to spread the activities of the Party to every part of the islands.

K G Das replied to the discussion on the report on each of the points raised by the delegates.

The conference adopted a number of resolutions on various issues relating to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. In addition to the 16 resolutions proposed by the state organising committee, a few more resolutions were also moved and discussed. 

R Surendran Pillai presented the credentials report.  Altogether 63 comrades including three women delegates attended the conference.  Age-wise, there was no delegate below the age of 30 years in the conference while 10 delegates in the age group of 31-40 years attended.  Two delegates – K G Das and P Banerjee crossed the age of 78 years and 75 years respectively. Five kisans, seven private sector employees, retired government servants, shopkeepers, attended the conference. There were two law graduates. Three delegates – B Chandrachoodan, B C Bhattacharya and Shiv Shanker Singh were arrested by police and victimised on political grounds.  

The conference adopted the proposal for constituting a 15-member committee moved by K G Das, with one post to be kept vacant for woman candidate, to be nominated later on. Thereafter, he proposed the panel of the new state organising committee on behalf of the outgoing committee which was adopted unanimously by the conference. K G Das and P Banerjee were relieved from the new committee as they have crossed the fixed upper age limit of 75 years.  The newly elected committee unanimously elected D Ayyappan as the secretary.  The conference also unanimously elected him as the delegate for the 23rd Party Congress scheduled to be held from April 6-10, 2022 at Kannur, Kerala. The conference also elected a seven-member state secretariat. 

Summing up the conference, G Ramakrishnan, pointed out various shortcomings noticed in the functioning of the Party in the islands and called upon the newly elected committee to gear up the Party machinery to meet the challenges posed by the communal forces in the islands.  He emphasised the need to organise continuous programmes by the Party on people’s issues.  He directed the newly elected committee to take immediate steps to organise DYFI, SFI and AIDWA in the islands.

D Ayyappan assured the conference that the Party will make efforts to take up local issues and problems in all the villages in the islands, and try to form Party Committees there. He called upon the delegates to gear up the activities of the Party and mass organisations in their respective areas.  

D Laxman Rao, state secretariat member proposed the vote of thanks.