CPI leader (m) prakash karat. File | Photo Credit: S. Siva Saravanan
24. Congress of India (Marxist), which is to be held in Madurai between 2 and 6 April, will discuss “the need and essential importance of an increase in the independent force of the party”.
“If the independent force of the party grows, the power of BJP-RSS cannot be effectively fought,” writes Prakash Karat, a former general secretary of the party, in his message, “show the way forward”.
Mr. Karat acts as a party coordinator after the demise of Sitaram Yechura, the Secretary General of the party in September 2024. From the date and venue of the conference, while Yechura was alive, the party gave up the idea of nomination of the reigning Secretary General.
By the way, Thamukkam Ground in Madurai will achieve the distinction of the congress of the whole party for the third time. Thamukkam Ground, where the Congress will take place, also hosted the third congress of the Indian Communist Party (CPI) in 1953. The division in the CPI in 1964 paved the way to create CPI (M) and its 9. Conference also held in Madurai in 1972.
The proposal of the political resolution for Congress quoted by Mr. Karat says that the success of the fighting against the neoliberal regime Hindutva requires the growth of the independent force of CPI (M) and left forces. He speaks of the importance and challenges faced by the LDF government in Kerala, but is silent about any plans to rejuvenate the party in the former solid West Bengal.
A hard task, because the party is no longer in power in West Bengal and Tripur, although in Kerala she was able to win a second consecutive term. The party also does not have the strength in Lok Sabha to feel her presence. Today only four deputies, including SU. Venkatesan, who represents Madurai Lok Sabha. Another deputy of R. Sachidhanandam, representing the Dindigul seat, also comes from Tamil Nadu. The other two come from Keraly and Rajasthan.
According to Mr. Karat, strengthening the party required work between basic classes.
“More attention should be paid to an independent political campaign and mass mobilization around the party’s political platform. We should not blur our independent identity or reduce our independent activities in the name of election understanding or alliances,” he writes.
Its statement assumes meaning as a party that has been subjected to the alliance and on behalf of the BJP, the fingers of the ruling dispensing lines on many questions in Tamil Nadu.
Despite these urges, in Tamil Nadu, emotion, a trade union associated with CPI (m) managed to obtain the rights of trade unions for Samsung staff in Kancheepuram. The party is also in the forefront of emphasizing the problems of oppressed, especially planned castes and tribes.
“We are always fighting for people’s problems. But we are aware that BJP is not just another bourgeois side. It is powered by a dividing ideology and we have to wage an ideological war to defeat it,” said politbyro member G. Ramakrishnan.
Mr. Karat also says that the party would work on the continuation of the wide platform of secular opposition forces, such as the Indian block.
Published – March 30, 2025 03:54
