THE 23rd Maharashtra state conference of the CPI(M) was held from March 20-22, 2022 at Nagpur. It was after 37 years that Nagpur was hosting the Party’s State Conference. A dedicated team of Party workers worked tirelessly for holding the conference.

The venue was named Comrade Mahendra Singh Nagar; the hall was named after Comrades Dr Vithal More and Uddhav Bhawalkar; the stage was named after Allahbaksh Patel and Ratan Budhar; and the gate to the venue after Kamal Wanle and Devyani More.  All these leaders had passed away after the 22nd state conference at Sangli in February 2018.

After the flag-hoisting by state control commission chairperson Prof Udayan Sharma, the conference was inaugurated by Sitaram Yechury, general secretary, in the Vasantrao Deshpande Hall, packed by invitees and Party, class and mass organisation activists of Nagpur district and the Vidarbha region. A report of the inaugural session has appeared last week.

POLITICAL REPORT      

The delegate session elected a presidium and various other committees. After the condolence resolution was placed by Dr S K Rege, the state secretary Narasayya Adam placed the political-organisational report. Four printed booklets, each containing separately the political report, organizational report, reports of the mass fronts and statistical appendices to the organizational report, were circulated.  

The six main mass front reports were briefly placed by Adv M H Shaikh, Ajit Nawale, Maroti Khandare, Prachi Hatiwlekar, Preethy Sekhar and Rohidas Jadhav respectively.

The political report, after taking brief stock of the major international and national developments, concentrates on the political, economic and social situation in Maharashtra. The erstwhile BJP-led government that came to power in 2014 had begun the nefarious work of turning Maharashtra into another laboratory of Hindutva. The BJP-Shiv Sena alliance posted a landslide victory in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections winning 41 (BJP – 23, Shiv Sena – 18) of the total 48 seats in the state. The alliance got a majority, though reduced, in the assembly elections that followed in October 2019. But there were severe strains within the alliance on the question of who would be the chief minister, and the alliance eventually broke, paving the way for the forming of the Maha Vikas Aghadi comprising Shiv Sena, NCP and the Congress in November 2019. It was a big setback to the BJP.

The attacks on federal principles of the Indian constitution have been a consistent feature of the polity in the state. From Bhima Koregaon to Bollywood, there have been numerous instances of this. Various central investigating agencies and even the post of the governor are being blatantly used by the BJP central government in an attempt to topple the democratically elected government. This conflict is becoming more and more intense each day.

While the MVA state government is braving the onslaught on its federal rights, it is weakening its case due to its economic policies which are not much different from those of the previous BJP-led government. The MVA government revealed its class nature in various instances – in its refusal to totally write off the farm loans, not providing succour to unorganised sections of the working class, especially powerloom and beedi industries as well as scheme workers, and placing in the state assembly carbon copies of the three central farm laws, with some minor changes. They were later withdrawn in December 2021 after the repeal of the three farm laws.

Though faring better in managing the Covid pandemic compared to next door neighbour Gujarat and many other BJP-ruled states, the state government failed to utilise the opportunity to overhaul the much neglected public health services. The state government also failed to provide adequate compensation to the people affected by heavy and unseasonal rains and huge floods. It also did not succeed in putting enough pressure on the corporate insurance companies to compensate the unprecedented losses in farm production. Newer sections of the peasantry, like milk producers, were pushed into a crisis situation.

It was during the 22nd state conference of the Party held in February 2018 that the historic Kisan Long March was conceived. The nearly 200 Km Long March from Nashik to Mumbai by a 40,000 strong peasantry in March 2018 caught the imagination of the entire country. It brought the AIKS to centre stage, forcing the BJP-SS government to accede to its demands like farm loan waiver, implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA), increase in social welfare pensions etc.

The Kisan Long March established a remarkable benchmark for peasant struggles. The long march was followed by the historic struggle against the three black farm laws. Every call issued by the SKM was implemented very widely across the state and there were massive mobilisations held jointly by farmers, agricultural labourers and the working class. The peasantry in the state joined the anti-farm laws struggle right from November 26, 2020 and it went on gathering strength with each call for action.

The working class too launched several militant actions from massive demonstrations to jail bharo on numerous occasions. Noteworthy among them were the three nationwide general strikes against the BJP government’s anti working class policies on January 8-9, 2019, January 8, 2020 and again on  November 26, 2020.

Apart from these nationwide struggles the workers led by CITU launched several militant struggles, the most notable being the massive demonstrations of tens of thousands of beedi and other unorganised workers of Solapur, demanding work and compensation for the loss of work during the lockdown. The administration and the police resorted to draconian measures and put in jail the top leadership. Apart from such struggles the Solapur Party continues to work for building the massive 30,000 housing scheme for minority community women.

The enactment of CAA generated a massive backlash mainly of Muslim women and Shaheen Bagh like sit-in agitations were held in many major cities including Mumbai, Pune, Aurangabad, Sangli etc. The AIDWA and other mass fronts were very active in these mobilisations. A large section of democratic and secular forces joined this struggle.

The women’s front too was quite active during these four years, mobilising women and agitating against the issues of price rise, atrocities on women, sexual exploitation and such incidents as rape and murders at several places. The highlight of the women’s front was the successful conduct of the all India conference of the AIDWA in 2019 in Mumbai.

The youth front took up the serious issue of unemployment and organised a Youth March from Uran in Raigad district to Mumbai in February 2020. There was severe repression by the police on the Youth March throughout, which was valiantly braved by our youth comrades.

Although onset of the Covid pandemic and related long lockdowns dampened mass mobilisation, various Party units and Party members in class and mass organisations rose to the occasion by helping the sick to get treatment at various health facilities, providing food and shelter to the migrant labourers and those displaced by Modi’s unplanned and atrocious lockdown. Commendable work in this respect was done all over the state but especially in Mumbai, Solapur, Pune, Nashik, Aurangabad, Nanded and Nagpur. Several Covid care centres were opened and operated at the initiative of the Party.

ORGANISATIONAL REPORT

The organisational report, after stressing the directives of the Kolkata organisational plenum, has the following salient features:

There has been good statewide mobilisation in the struggles held by the Party and mass fronts on various issues in the last four years. Women’s participation in these struggles has grown in number.  

          The membership of the mass fronts in the last four years is as follows:

Despite a major fall in student front membership and a moderate fall in the agricultural workers’ front membership, there is a rise of more than 68,000 in the total membership of the mass fronts. The membership of the Kisan and Student fronts is for the year 2021-22, and it will increase further by April-end.

In the Lok Sabha general elections of 2019, the Party contested one seat Dindori (ST) in Nashik district and secured 1,09,691 votes, an increase of 37,000 over the votes polled in the 2014 election. Earlier in May 2018, the Party had contested the Palghar Lok Sabha by-election. The Party polled 71,887 votes (8.37 per cent). There was an increase of 0.63 per cent over the votes in the 2014 election in this constituency.

In the 2014 assembly elections the Party had contested 20 seats securing 2,07,933 votes. In 2019, in view of our tactics of pooling together anti-BJP votes we contested only eight seats but secured 2,04,933, i.e., similar number of votes. We won the Dahanu (ST) seat in Palghar district, polling 72,114 votes, defeating the BJP. Our votes in Dahanu increased by 44,000 from 2014. But in the long-held Kalwan (ST) seat in Nashik district, although we got 80,281 votes, we lost to the NCP by 6,500 votes.   

The circulation of the state Party weekly Jeewan Marg has fallen and concerted efforts to increase its readership need to be made. No study camps could be organised mainly due to the prolonged pandemic related restrictions and lockdowns. However, a number of online activities to educate the cadre were conducted by the Party state committee as well as by various mass and class fronts.

There are 181 whole timers – 76 on the trade union front, 53 on the kisan front, 13 on the agricultural workers front, 14 on the women’s front, 12 on the youth front, 6 on the student front and 4 in party offices. The state committee gives a regular wage of Rs 5,000 per month to 51 whole timers. Others are looked after by some district committees and trade union centres. 

The Party membership remains more or less stagnant at 12,837. The class composition of the Party is as follows: working class: 17.60 per cent; peasantry: 60.40 per cent; agricultural workers: 17.60 per cent; middle class: 4.40 per cent. The social composition is as follows: adivasis: 55.00 per cent, dalits: 9.20 per cent, minorities: 5.50 per cent and women: 19.00 per cent. The proportion of those below 40 years of age is 40.50 per cent, but has declined over the years.

As for the Party membership working in the mass fronts, 21.70 per cent work in the trade union front, 50.90 per cent on the kisan front, 5 per cent on the agricultural workers front, 6.33 per cent on the women’s front, 11.70 per cent on the youth front and 1.8 per cent on the student front.

The amount of party levy coming to the state committee has increased from Rs 26.62 lakh in 2017 to Rs 32.10 lakh in 2021, which is substantial, but can be still increased. No special fund drive was conducted during this period but relief fund for help in Covid and natural disasters was regularly conducted at state, district and mass front levels. The Party in Maharashtra contributed Rs 1,37,45,124 towards Kerala Flood Relief Fund. The report also sharply and self-critically pinpoints several weaknesses in both the movement and the organisation and sets out 19 political tasks and 17 organisational tasks for the coming three years.

In the nearly eight hour discussion on the report that took place, 75 comrades, including 17 women comrades, took part and they enriched the report with their criticisms, suggestions and experiences. After the state secretary’s reply the report was adopted unanimously.

General Secretary Sitaram Yechury addressed the delegates highlighting the complexities of the nexus between the neoliberal trajectory and the Hindutva forces. He forcefully pointed out that the ideological battle has to be fought against the rightwing authoritarian Hindutva forces while at the same time simultaneously fighting against economic exploitation and social oppression.

CONCLUDING SESSION

In the concluding session on March 22, Uday Narkar placed the various resolutions and they were seconded by M H Shaikh. Convener of the credentials committee Vijay Gabhane placed the credentials report. There were 318 delegates, of whom 58 were women.

The state conference elected a 50-member state committee which includes nine women. It unanimously elected Uday Narkar as the new state secretary. The new state secretariat will be elected after the Kannur Party Congress. The conference elected a three member state control commission, which elected Udayan Sharma as chairman. The conference also elected 16 delegates, 2 observers and 3 alternate delegates to the 23rd Party Congress.

Nilotpal Basu, Polit Bureau member, noted the significance of the conference taking place in the city where the RSS headquarters is located, and called for strengthening and streamlining the Party organisation by implementing the ideological, political and organisational tasks delineated in the political organizational report. He especially emphasized the need to strengthen the functioning of the state centre, which has comparatively weakened due to the demise of important leaders and Party functionaries looking after it.   

Ashok Dhawale concluded the conference by placing the future programmes of action of the Party and mass fronts, with a call to make all of them a resounding success. After a warm session of congratulating the reception committee and the young volunteers who had done excellent work, the conference ended with the rendering of the Internationale.