• The conference was organised entirely with donations from industrial workers.
• The majority of the volunteers were recruited from industrial workers.
• On this occasion, funds sufficient for the district movement for the coming year were also secured. These funds were entirely collected through donations from unorganised workers and door-to-door collections.
• No donations were accepted from industrialists, contractors, or leaders of bourgeois parties.
• For two days before the conference, people's cultural festivals were organised under the banner of the Praja Natya Mandali. For this conference, people's lyricist Goreti Venkanna and film writer Suddala Ashok Teja wrote two songs. Both of them participated as chief guests in the cultural festivals.
• The Reception Committee, chaired by CITU state president Chukka Ramulu, efficiently handled all the arrangements.

THE 4th Telangana State Conference of CPI(M) was held in Sangareddy town from January 26 to 28. The venue was named as Comrade Sitaram Yechury Nagar and the dais was named after Comrade Mallu Swarajyam. The public meeting was held on the 25th. The conference concluded with a call to intensify people's struggles, and build united movements.

Ahead of the conference, extensive mass campaign was conducted across the district taking the slogans of the conference among the people. The public meeting on January 25 witnessed a massive turnout of workers, farmers, the poor, and women from across the erstwhile Medak district. A huge rally started from the IB office in Sangareddy, with thousands of industrial workers, informal sector workers – including hamalis (porters), transport workers, construction workers, and contract workers – joining in. The streets of Sangareddy turned red with the huge procession.

CPI(M) leaders, including Polit Bureau members Brinda Karat and B V Raghavulu, Central Committee members G Nagayya, and state secretariat members, led the march. The rally also featured traditional drum performances, Kolatam (stick dances), and symbolic depictions of communal harmony.

Addressing the rally, Brinda Karat criticised the BJP’s communal politics, and stated that it was replicating the British strategy of 'divide and rule' in India, and is dividing people along religious and caste lines to maintain power. She condemned the exploitation of people’s faiths for political gain.

Other leaders, including B V Raghavulu, state secretary Tammineni Veerabhadram, and Central Committee members Cherupalli Sitaramulu and G Nagayya, also addressed the gathering.

DELEGATE SESSION

On Republic Day (January 26), the delegate session of the Party began with B V Raghavulu hoisting the national flag and senior leader, Midium Baburao unfurling the Party flag. Delegates paid homage to martyrs before the session commenced.

The presidium comprised Central Committee member G Nagayya and state secretariat members Pothineni Sudarshan, T Jyothi, John Wesley, and Md Abbas. The conference was inaugurated by CPI(M) Central Committee Coordinator, Prakash Karat. He stated that the BJP survives on two pillars – Hindutva and corporates – and called upon Party cadre to resist these forces. He emphasized that the class struggle today is intertwined with the fight against communalism, neoliberal economic policies, and social oppression. He urged the Party to study the socio-economic changes in Telangana over the last seven decades since the Telangana Peasants Armed Struggle and strategise people's movements accordingly.

He also stressed the need for strengthening the Party’s base and sharpening struggles, highlighting the importance of Left unity in the current political climate.

Party Polit Bureau member Vijaya Raghavan reviewed the discussions held over three days and highlighted the Party’s weaknesses while suggesting ways to address them. He urged the members to analyse why the Party’s mass base was not growing. He emphasized the need for self-criticism to improve performance and called for intensifying struggles. He urged Party cadre to unite and move forward collectively.

In his concluding address, Polit Bureau member B V Raghavulu emphasised the need to connect with the people through militant struggles. He stressed the importance of increasing efforts to address public issues in both urban and rural residential areas. He called for ideological and political struggles against Hindutva and religious fanaticism while working on social issues. He urged that the Party's mass base in Telangana be strengthened in the coming days.

A total of 664 people participated in the conference, including 514 delegates, 135 observers, and 14 veterans. Delegates from 34 districts, 35 members from the state centre, and representatives from various mass organisations participated. Discussions on the political organisational report lasted approximately 9.5 hours. Resolutions were proposed and adopted on 49 issues.

The new state committee was elected with 60 members with John Wesley as the state secretary. Seven invitees and five special invitees are part of the state committee.

At the closing session, Tammineni Veerabhadram, who led the Party for a decade, remarked that communists never retire. He stated that while he was stepping down from his responsibilities, he remained committed to struggles. He emphasized the goal of further advancing and strengthening the communist movement in Telangana. Newly elected state secretary John Wesley pledged to work to revive the Party’s past glory, seeking guidance from senior leaders.

A Conference Funded by Workers’ Hard-Earned Money

THE Party ensured that every rupee spent on organising the conference was raised through donations from workers, making it a workers' conference in the truest sense. Given that Sangareddy is an industrial hub, the Party decided to involve the working class in organising the conference. Extensive fundraising efforts were carried out among industrial workers, farmers, agricultural workers, and unorganised sector workers in villages where the Party had contacts.

General body meetings were held in every industry and among Party sympathizers in every village to explain the importance of the conference and the necessity of its organisation. Some workers contributed a month's salary, some donated 15 days' wages, while others contributed a day’s wage. Many even volunteered at the conference. This made the conference a historic one, entirely funded by the hard-earned money of the working class.

The reception committee worked tirelessly to hold the conference successfully. Reception Committee Chairman Chukka Ramulu and General Secretary Jayaraju explained this during the concluding session, expressing revolutionary gratitude to the workers of various industries who supported the conference financially and organisationally.

The entire town of Sangareddy was filled with fluttering red flags, hoardings, and the glow of red banners at every step. The industrial area of Sangareddy was draped in red with flags and decorative arches. Hoardings along the national highway featuring images of P Sundarayya, Sitaram Yechury, and Mallu Swarajyam became a major attraction. The venue for the public meeting, the Mallu Swarajyam Grounds (PSR Grounds), was beautifully decorated with large flex boards and hoardings displaying images of the Party’s great leaders.

Flex boards featuring leaders such as Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Li Shao Chi, Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, Ho Chi Minh, and Hugo Chavez, along with their quotes, energised the delegates. At the main entrance, hoardings displaying portraits of warriors of Telangana Peasants Armed Struggle were put up.

The Sangareddy CPI(M) district committee organised innovative campaign programmes on the occasion of the confrence. A jeep rally was conducted across the undivided Medak district to spread the message of the conference. Medical camps, blood donation drives, rangoli competitions, sports tournaments, seminars, conferences, public meetings, cultural festivals, photo exhibitions, folk performances, and training sessions for revolutionary songs were held. Special teams were formed to create posters, videos, and songs for social media, ensuring widespread public outreach. Despite being a small Party in the district, CPI(M) undertook preparations and campaign activities extensively.

Three torch processions were carried out in honour of the martyrs of the Telangana Peasants Armed Struggle. One began from Veera Bhairanpally, where over 100 martyrs laid down their lives; another started from the memorial site of Comrade Keval Kishan in Medak district; and the third from Suryapet, honouring Comrade Mallu Swarajyam. These processions converged at the public meeting, where the torches were handed over to national leaders.

The CPI(M) state committee thanked the Reception Committee and the Party ranks of the undivided Medak district for successfully conducting the conference.