Third West Bengal State Conference of AIALA
‘Enact special laws at the state level for agricultural labourers to ensure their welfare’, ‘Include all the agricultural labourers in the BPL List’ and ‘Guarantee their health, education and better living and working conditions’, ‘Implement the Employment Guarantee Act strictly to ensure 100 days of work and extend it to all districts’, Don’t deprive peasants and agricultural labourers from their employment by selling out double or triple cropped fertile lands to capitalists in the name of development’.
Such were the main slogans shouted by the hundreds of agricultural labourers who participated in the open rally that was called at the beginning of the Third State Conference of West Bengal unit of AIALA in Bankura. The rally started from the Railway Station, passed through the main areas in the town and assembled in Machantala ground. The rally was addressed by CPI(ML) State Secretary Kartik Pal, Central Observer and Vice President of AIALA Krishna Adhikari, State Secretary of AIALA Srikant Rana, Peasant Association’s State Secretary Krishna Pramanijk, CPI(ML) District Secretary Sudarshan Bose, District Secretary of AIALA Bablu Banerjee and Comrade Habibur Rahman.
Comrade Kartik Pal said, “poor peasants and agricultural labourers are continuously being evicted from vested and share cropping lands cultivated by them. Due to higher prices of agricultural inputs agriculture is becoming non-profitable and poor peasants and share croppers are being forced to lease out their lands to rich peasants and capitalists land owners. Govt. also tried to pass an amendment bill which would dilute the ceiling act and provide scope to sell more ceiling surplus land to the capitalists. All these facts demonstrate that the government is proceeding towards reverse land reform.”
Comrade Krishna Adhikari said, “Our country faced two main problems during the recent years: starvation deaths and suicides by peasants. The Left front backed UPA government could not resist these problems. The CPI(M) is supporting all the anti-national, anti-people activities of central government. We have to snatch the real flag from these betrayers.”
Comrade Srikanta Rana said, “In the 29 years long rule of LF government they claim that they have successfully implemented land reform in West Bengal, but the fact is just the opposite. The State government itself admitted that more than 4500 villages are languishing in destitution. So agricultural labourers will have to organise under their own banner – the banner of AIALA – to snatch their own demands.
Comrade Shankar Mitra, senior Party leader and vice president of the state unit of AIALA, hoisted the red flag. Conference started with 328 delegates among which 28 were women. The report placed in the conference showed that 53,300 members were enrolled by that time. 38 delegates participated in discussion over the draft.
Our veteran fighter comrade Nimu Singh from Darjeeling said, “the state government is evicting poor and agricultural labourers from their lands and households to hand over cultivable lands for setting up BSF camps. We have to fight against this conspiracy”.
Conference elected a 65-member state Council and 21 member State Executive Committee. Comrades Sajal Pal and Srikanta Rana were re-elected as state president and state secretary respectively.
Conference took the decision of organising block level rallies, road blockades etc. to culminate in a state level rally on 12 January next year. Serious efforts will be made to fulfil the membership target of 1 lakh 20 thousands before the National Conference.