Maha: State Level Study Camp of Progressive Parties
Uday Narkar
AFTER a relative lull, for some period, in the well planned united political initiatives by the Left and democratic parties in Maharashtra, winds are gathering speed in that direction. This was evident in the two-day statewide study camp conducted at Pune on July 9 and 10, 2023, organised by the progressive parties and attended by over 1200 main activists of these parties.
Concerted efforts, in a steady and sure manner in this direction, were in offing for some time. Two political formations, variously comprised of the constituents led by the two sets of bourgeois parties, secular and communal, have dominated the state politics for over a decade. Especially during the 2019 parliamentary and assembly elections, no major impact could be registered by the Left and democratic forces, owing to the peculiar right-wing, fascistic offensive. This offensive has further intensified resulting in the central government led attacks on the constitutional order, as was ignominiously evident in the two recent splits in Shiv Sena and NCP respectively.
During these shenanigans, resorted to by the BJP, people’s problems remained unattended and deliberate attempts of communal strife were consistently intensified. It was in this background that the Left and democratic parties began parleys to arrive at a consensus on how to reunite their forces in order to fight communal forces on one hand, and create a space, opposing neoliberal offensive, for furthering an agenda based on the issues of people’s livelihood.
The Left and democratic parties have always been at the forefront of furthering and safeguarding democratic rights in the state. It was these forces, mainly comprising communists and socialists that laid a foundation, in a glorious struggle during the fifties, of the linguistic state of Maharashtra. These forces once again came together to oppose the emergency which consequently saw the installation of the PDF government led by Sharad Pawar and supported by the CPI(M) and CPI from outside. Similar efforts of the state level united front were made in the first decade of the 21st century. The political situation, and somewhat waned strength of this formation, in the state was not conducive to arrive at a reasonable seat adjustment with secular parties.
However, class and mass mobilisations against the implementation of the neoliberal agenda continued during the successive governments led by the Congress-NCP, BJP-SS and MVA. Most notable of these were farmers’ strike, joint struggles led by the constituents of SKM and trade unions. These crowned into the much-acclaimed AIKS led long marches in 2018, 2019 and two in 2023. These gave a fillip to the efforts of uniting the Left and democratic forces in the state. More focussed efforts are being made with the formation of a platform of progressive parties comprising 13 political parties that include CPI(M), CPI, PWP, JD(S), CPI(ML-Liberation), Bahujan Republican Socialist Party (BRSP), Lal Nishan Party etc.
In a process of meetings over a prolonged period of about a year the first concrete programme of the Platform of the Progressive Parties was devised. A study camp was successfully conducted at Pune on July, 9 and 10, 2023.
Abu Asim Azmi, MLA and Maharashtra president of the Samajwadi Party (SP) inaugurated the camp. In a hard hitting speech, Azmi came down heavily on the BJP/RSS for pushing the state on the communal brink. He vowed to work, together with all the constituents of the progressive parties, as one body. Sathi Shripatrao Shinde, former MLA of JD(S) was a special guest of the session, which was presided by Bhalchandra Kango, central secretariat member of CPI.
The inaugural session was followed by eight different sessions on various burning issues affecting the state. The first of these was ‘Constitution of India and Conspiracies of the BJP and RSS’. It was addressed by the renowned activist lawyer Asim Sarvade. Narrating various attacks on the foundational constitutional values he trained guns on the poisonous communal substance of the anti-minority propaganda unleashed by the BJP in its UCC campaign. He forcefully distinguished between the elements of equality and uniformity in a civil code. Advocate Suresh Mane, a High Court lawyer and the founder president of the BRSP presided.
Ram Punyani, eminent secular intellectual, explained, in his spellbinding address on ‘Communalism, Nationalism and Politics of Hate’, the various aspects of RSS communalism dealing with Indian history as well as current political issues. Meraz Siddiqui, state spokesperson of the SP presided.
Ashok Dhawale, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member and national president of the AIKS in a pointed and concise speech analysed in depth the crisis facing the Indian agriculture, its impact on the economy and a way out of the closure inflicted by neoliberalism. He especially highlighted the potential of the united kisan struggle in defeating BJP-RSS communal agenda. This session, ‘The Crisis in Agriculture and its Solution’ was presided over by SV Jadhav, senior leader of PWP.
Datta Desai, a renowned Marxist intellectual and author, highlighted the contribution of the communist movement to a class based cultural regeneration, which immensely helped in popularising the Left politics and ideology in his enlightening address on ‘Need for Political-Cultural Movement for the abolition of Class-Caste-Gender Based Slavery’. Uday Narkar and Bhalchandra Kango spoke on the ‘Challenges in Education, Employment and Health Sectors’. Other sessions dealt with challenges before the economy, issues facing OBCs, dalits, women, adivasis, displaced sections etc which were addressed by several intellectuals and leaders.
Ashok Dhawale, presiding over the concluding session, exhorted that all these struggles must lead to the defeat of the BJP at the forthcoming elections. He also emphasized the need, especially in the backdrop of the current happenings in Maharashtra politics, to make efforts to maximise the anti- BJP votes in the forthcoming elections to both parliament and the Maharashtra assembly. The main speaker at the session Bhai Jayant Patil, MLC and general secretary of the PWP also highlighted the need to coordinate closely with the MVA.
The study camp was fruitful in bringing together the state leadership of thirteen Left and progressive parties with a potential to meaningfully intervene in the state in order to defeat the BJP in the next elections.
