THE Bihar state conference of the Party was held from March 6-8, 2022 at Samastipur, the land of martyrs who sacrificed their lives holding red flags in their hands fighting for land and against feudal oppression since the 1970’s.

In the run up to the Party state conference, Samastipur Party had organised a ‘Shaheed yatra’ from each and every village where comrades had been murdered by the class enemies. This yatra recalled the sacrifices of the comrades in building the Party. The entire Samastipur town was decked with red banners, festoons, flags and side walls painted with Party slogans.

MASS RALLY

The conference started with a big rally at Patel Maidan which bore a festive look. Young girls in red uniforms headed a big contingent of Party leaders and cadres who marched through the main thorough fares of the town, holding high red flags and made its way to the Maidan. Party state secretary Awadhesh Kumar received the flags amidst the slogans of the assembled people in memory of the martyrs.

Addressing the rally, Party general secretary, Sitaram Yechury paid tributes to the martyrs of Samastipur. He lambasted the RSS led BJP government at the centre for its disastrous seven years rule which has brought all round miseries to all sections of the people. Economy is in completes mess, unemployment is the highest in the last 45 years and the sky rocketing prices of essential commodities due to ever increasing prices of transport fuels and gas, have ruined the lives of the common people. He particularly emphasised the need to fight the pernicious Hindutva agenda of the RSS, by bringing all the Left, secular and democratic forces into a united fight to save the secular and democratic character of the constitution. He recalled the unity of the people of all faiths during the anti-imperialist struggle which is now under constant attack by the RSS and its affiliated units, which needs to be resisted at every step.

Yechury hailed the historic victory of farmers of the country who fought for 13 months braving the fury of nature and brought the BJP to its knees and said that the class unity of workers and peasants has to be strengthened to fight the BJP juggernaut. He exhorted the assembled people to strengthen the CPI(M) in Bihar and unleash class and mass struggles to create an alternative to the present NDA dispensation.

He lambasted Modi government for allying with USA and pursuing a disastrous foreign policy which has alienated our neighbouring countries and has chocked our independent voice in the world arena. He severely criticised the central government for its failure to timely evacuate the stranded 20,000 Indian students in Ukarine.

Party Polit Bureau member and AIKS national president, Hannan Mollah spoke about the historic kisan struggle in which 500 peasant organisations were brought under one umbrella. The struggle forced the BJP government to roll-back the dreaded farm laws. The unique peasant movement received the support and solidarity of the working class and this worker-peasant alliance should be further strengthened to roll back the neo-liberal policies and the communal fascistic agenda of the RSS.

State leaders Awadhesh Kumar, Arun Kumar Mishra, and  Ajay Kumar also addressed the gathering and called upon the people to strengthen the Party in Bihar.

DELEGATE SESSION

After the rally, all the delegates assembled at the conference venue named after late veteran CPI(M) leader Comrade Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi. The entire venue was decorated with red flowers, banners, posters and names of the martyrs with their photographs.

Arches at different places in the names of martyrs of the state were put up underlining  that CPI(M) represents the revolutionary legacy of the anti-colonial struggle and is committed to fulfil the task of building the people’s democratic revolution in the country come what may.

Sitaram Yechury unfurled the Party flag and led the delegates to pay floral tributes to the martyrs column. The conference hall was named after former secretary late Comrade Vijay Kant Thakur. The podium was named after late Comrade Krishna Kant Singh, veteran peasant leader of the state and founder member of the Party in Bihar.

The inaugural session started with the election of presidium, consisting of Ramashray Singh, Sarvodaya Sharma, Ganesh Shankar Singh, Ahmad Ali and Neelam Devi. Minutes committee, resolution committee, credentials committees were formed with the approval of the delegates. Condolence resolution was placed and adopted in the inaugural session.

Inaugurating the conference, Sitaram Yechury dwelt at length on the national and  international developments and underlined the need to defeat the RSS led BJP government by strengthening the independent base of the Party and forging unity with Left and democratic forces and making common cause with secular parties and forces. He exhorted the delegates to build a revolutionary party by forging links with the masses and unleashing class and mass struggles.

After the inaugural address, Awadhesh Kumar placed the political-organisational report and the experiences of the implementation of the political-organisational line given by the 22nd Congress of the Party, in Bihar. The report is exhaustive and details the socio-economic situation and the political developments in the last four years in the state.

51 delegates participated in the discussion and made contributions strengthening the report. They made valuable suggestions for strengthening the Party at the grassroots level. The participants appreciated the political line pursued in the last assembly elections as per the direction of the Central Committee and after a long gap of 10 years, the Party was able to send its two young comrades, to the assembly.

After the conclusion of the discussion and the reply by the secretary, the report was unanimously adopted. On the concluding day of the conference, a 50-member state committee was elected. Lalan Choudhary was elected as the secretary for the next three years.

The conference adopted several resolutions on the issues related to agricultural crisis, recurring floods and drought in Bihar, in support of MSP for agricultural produce, on issues of water logging, scarcity of fertilizers etc. In also adopted a resolution in support of the All India General Strike called by the central trade unions on March 28-29 and called upon the working people of Bihar to make it a grand success. A resolution was also adopted in favour of reintroduction of old pension scheme.

Resolutions concerning growing atrocities against dalits, sexual assaults on women and children were also adopted.

In his long concluding address, Hannan Mollah emphasised on the need for concentrating on Party building.

The conference concluded with spirited slogans against imperialism, capitalism and feudalism and resolved to march forward to build an exploitation free world.

The conference elected 18 members to the 23rd Party Congress to be held in Kannur, Kerala from April 6-10.

On behalf of the delegates the senior most member of the presidium, Ramashray Singh thanked the reception committee for excellent arrangements. The reception committee felicitated Hannan Mollah who guided the conference and remained present till the end of the conference. The senior members of the outgoing state committee, Ramashray Singh, Ganesh Shankar Singh were also felicitated along with the outgoing secretary Awadhesh Kumar.