THE 23rd state conference of the CPI(M) Tripura was held on February 25-26, 2022. The conference gave a clarion call: “Undertake all-out efforts, ideological, political and organisational, to be a competent defender of democracy.”

The conference was held following a mammoth rally in Vivekananda Ground on the previous day. The conference started with flag hoisting by Sitaram Yechury, general secretary of the Party. Floral wreaths were placed at the martyrs' column and condolence resolution was placed in the memory of the 22 martyrs killed by BJP-IPFT goons in the last four years. The conference adopted another condolence resolution in memory of the Party comrades and progressive personalities who passed away since the last conference.

Three hundred and sixteen delegates attended the conference of which 39 were women.  The conference was presided over by a presidium comprising Rama Das, Lalit Debnath, Samsul Hoque, and Dilip Das.

INAUGURAL ADDRESS

Inaugurating the conference, Sitaram Yechury spoke on the national developments and said the BJP knows very well that the Left, particularly the CPI(M) is the only force that can confront BJP ideologically. Lashing out at Modi government’s privatisation drive, patronising rampant corruption, splitting off Jammu & Kashmir state, abolishing Article 370 and 35A of the constitution, enacting CAA, NRC to divide the people on religious line, deviation from the traditional foreign policy-to be a junior partner of the US strategic alliance, crippling the authority of the parliament,  illegal interference with the constitutional bodies including judiciary and election commission, and most importantly, suppressing the opposition voices,  implicating opposition leaders on sedition charges etc., Sitaram said, all of this exhibits the BJP government’s abject failure of running the Indian Republic on democratic norms.

Yechury also spoke about the heroic kisan struggle which continued for over a year. Congratulating the Party workers of Tripura for the courageous struggles they have been carrying on despite the worst forms of intimidation, he said, the Party is proud of its dedicated workers. The struggle of the Tripura Party would greatly inspire the people throughout the country and help them to defeat the BJP in future, Sitaram concluded.

PRESENTATION OF POLITICAL -ORGANISATIONAL REPORT

Party state secretary, Jitendra Choudhury presented the draft Pol-Org report. The report dealt with the political situation in the state. It stated, “The BJP-IPFT rule of last four years witnessed fascistic barbarism of the worst order, converting the state into a lynching ground of democracy. All the six elections – parliament; TTAADC and local bodies etc., held during this regime were reduced to complete mockery. The Left Front MLAs, MPs, ADC members and elected members of the urban local bodies were not allowed to work independently.”

Referring to the organised attacks on the CPI(M), the report mentioned that apart from 22 comrades murdered, 3,254 comrades were physically assaulted in the last four years of BJP rule. The total number of attacks, on livelihoods, profession, damage to houses, destruction of properties belonging to CPI(M) and its sympathisers, were 8,119, till December 2021.

There is not a single Party office, including the state committee office, that was not targeted in these attacks. Some of the Party offices were attacked several times. In most of the incidents of attacks either the police did not receive an FIR or where it was received, was not given cognizance.

Regarding anti-people measures taken by the state government, the report stated,  “The BJP government did not render justice to the retrenched 10,323 employees who were promised reinstatement by them prior to the assembly election. About 15,000 government employees had retired during the last 4 years. But the government instead of filling up the posts, abolished them and is adopting the principle of outsourcing of work. Social pension of more than 50,000 aged people was cancelled.”

Most of the departments of the government are clad with corruption and nepotism. No public work can be accomplished without negotiating with the syndicates of BJP leaders who demand large amounts as cut money. MGNREGA wages are being misappropriated and grabbed by the mandal leaders.

The performance of the TTAADC led by Tipra Motha under the leadership of Pradyut Kishore Debbarman, the last descendent of the royal family is also not different from that of the government.  The Tipra Motha won the TTAADC election only on an emotional slogan of “Grater Tipra Land” and cashing in the loyalty of a section of tribal masses to the royal families. But after assuming the office they are not at all concerned with the crisis of the tribal people. No worthwhile project of economic benefit for the tribals has been drawn up by the ADC till now. It is evident that Tipra Motha does not raise any demand to the BJP-led government for enhancement of allocation for the well being of the tribals, and similarly, the BJP also does not expressly make any criticism against Tipra Motha.

ORGANISATION

Some of the lower-level conferences were held inside the respective areas, the others had to be held outside owing to the threats from the ruling establishment. Out of 4,808 total branches, 732 branch conferences were held outside the local area. Of 302 local committees, 128 conferences were held out of their areas. Seven SDC conferences of a total of 24 had to be organised outside the geographical area of the committee.

The attendance in SDC and DC conferences was cent per cent. In the local committee and SDCs, 20 to 25 per cent of new members were elected. Out of a total of 302 local secretaries, 125 were newly elected.

In the conclusion, the report charted out 16-point urgent tasks for implementation in the coming days.   

DELEGATE DISCUSSION

Total 44 delegates including eight women covering all the districts and mass/class organisations participated in the discussion. A good number of delegates expressed concern over the slogan of ‘Greater Tipra Land’, which created our alienation from the traditional tribal mass base, particularly the youth. The delegates suggested intensive ideological campaigns and propagation of the historic role of GMP among the tribal masses to remove this illusion.

The women delegates informed that; the women are the primary victims of the neo-liberal economic onslaughts. Domestic violence has increased in recent periods. The attacks on women-physical torture; the killing of women; suicide; and the number of general crimes in the state have increased on an alarming scale, they informed.   Vast numbers of women are still away from the Party's political influence.  They laid importance on more and more enrolment of women members in the Party and providing proper space in the committees.   

Both Manik Sarkar and Jitendra Chaudhary replied to the discussion.

CONCLUDING SESSION

On February 26, congratulating the delegates and the Party workers for their bravery in confronting the fascistic attacks unleashed by the ruling BJP, Prakash Karat said, “The ruling party is doing the same thing in Tripura what the Modi government is doing at the centre.”

He said, “But certainly, the intensity of attack in Tripura bears extra-ordinary dimension. To regain our traditional tribal bases, we should be picking up proper slogans appealing to the tribal masses, particularly the youth and middle class of this section. Apart from the historic battles fought by the GMP, the achievements, and performances of the Left Front government for the upliftment of tribals, both socially, economically and culturally may be highlighted while addressing the tribal masses.”

He suggested adhering to the mass line adopted at the Kolkata Plenum to establish a living link with the masses; to avoid liberal norms in recruitment in the Party; practice review of the performance of whole-timers; and strengthening of the social media team to refute anti-party posts in all the media.

FORMATION OF NEW STATE COMMITTEE

Seventy-member new state committee, including eight women, was unanimously elected. Nine new members were elected to the state committee. Jitendra Choudhury was elected as the state secretary and a  16 member state secretariat was also elected. Four are new members in the secretariat.

Also, a 40-member delegation to the 23rd Party Congress at Kannur was elected in the conference. A three-member control commission comprising Lalit Debnath, Rehana Begam and Jaya Barman was also elected unanimously. The control commission in its first meeting elected Lalit Debnath as its chairman.

THREE RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED

The conference adopted three important resolutions on the issues pertaining to the life and livelihoods of the people of the state in general. The resolutions are:

·        Build up ceaseless movements for work, food and employment;

·        Intensify struggle for the restoration of rule of law in the state;

·        Widen the democratic unity of the tribals and non-tribals of the state.

The artists of the ‘cultural coordination committee’ sang songs in the intervals between the sessions of the conference.