Headlines
CPI-M conclave to work out plan to strengthen party (Curtain raiser)
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By Mohammed ShafeeqVisakhapatnam, April 13
The Communist Party of
India-Marxist (CPI-M) will chalk out a strategy to rebuild and
strengthen the party besides electing a new general secretary at its
21st Congress, beginning here on Tuesday.
Sitaram Yechuri, member
of the party's outgoing central committee, is tipped to take over from
Prakash Karat, who has been at the helm for the past 10 years.
With
the CPI-M reduced to being a single-digit force in the Lok Sabha, there
will be serious deliberations during the six-day conclave on how to
strengthen the party by taking up people's issues.
The first
Congress of the communist party since the BJP-led NDA stormed to power
last year will, according to the draft political resolution, stress on
building a strong Left and democratic front as this alternative alone
can "save the country from the havoc being inflicted by neo-liberal
capitalism and majoritarian communalism".
The party, whose
strength in the Lok Sabha has been reduced from 60 in 2004 to nine in
2014, will discuss organising and mobilising different sections of the
working people against "right-wing offensive" and the Modi government's
"neo-liberal drive", it said.
According to CPI-M's Andhra Pradesh
unit secretary P. Madhu, the Congress will also chalk out
state-specific action plans to take on regional parties.
He said
the conclave would take stock of the situation in each state and discuss
ways to counter "bourgeois ideology and politics of the regional
parties" and win over the masses from their influence.
The
CPI-M, which lost its bastion of West Bengal four years ago and is
facing a tough situation with the emergence of the BJP as a key force in
the state politics, will deliberate on how to effectively counter both
the Trinamool Congress and the BJP.
The Marxist party will
discuss the reasons for its electoral debacle last year and the way
forward to reassert its relevance in the national politics. It has
prepared a report, identifying the drawbacks which led to poll reverses,
and these will come up for discussion at the Congress.
The
conclave will discuss draft political resolution adopted by the central
committee in January, which says "With the BJP coming to power at the
Centre, the stage is set for a rightwing offensive comprising an
aggressive pursuit of neo-liberal policies and a full-scale attempt by
the RSS-led Hindutva forces to advance their communal agenda".
The
resolution also noted that the nine-month period of the Modi government
at the Centre is marked by an aggressive pursuit of neo-liberal
policies with emphasis on increasing foreign capital in all spheres of
the economy; increased privatisation; dilution of labour laws and land
acquisition laws.
"There is a wholesale pursuit of the Hindutva agenda which threatens the secular-democratic basis of the Republic," it added.
The
party believes that the fight against the Hindutva forces and other
forms of communalism must be integrated and combined with the fight
against the neo-liberal policies and their effects on the working
people.
The first Congress to be held in Andhra Pradesh after
bifurcation of the state, will also focus on the problems faced by
people in both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The CPI-M, which had
strongly opposed bifurcation of the state, will discuss measures to
strengthen the party organisation in the two Telugu states.
Election
of a new general secretary is on the agenda of the Party congress.
Prakash Karat has already made it clear that he would be replaced at the
congress as the party constitution provides for only three terms for a
secretary at any level.
The Congress will elect a new central
committee, which will then elect a new general secretary. Both Karat and
Yechuri have stated that it is for the new central committee to decide
who will be the new general secretary.
Merger of two communist parties will not be on the agenda of the CPI-M
conclave. Communist Party of India (CPI) general secretary S. Sudhakar
Reddy has favoured merger. However, the CPI-M congress will discuss how
to ensure broad unity among the Left parties on the people's issues
rather than merger.
(Mohammed Shafeeq can be contacted at [email protected])