Equally committed is the government to the interests of foreign MNCs. Manmohan Singh has openly staked his government to appease the world’s largest retail giant, US MNC Wal-Mart. A few months ago when in the face of countrywide opposition the UPA government had put on hold the decision to invite 51% FDI in multi-brand retail, Barack Obama had openly criticised India for restricting foreign investment. Now when the government has gone back on its word to re-announce the policy of inviting FDI in retail, a re-elected Obama declares India a big part of his plans. Some future wikileaks cable may well find the Wal-Mart chief too describing the Congress party as ‘aapni dukaan’!
But 2012 has also been a year of a great fightback. Whether against corruption or price-rise, FDI or corporate landgrab, social oppression or state repression, the democratic people of India have fought back boldly, securing temporary victories and pushing back the ruling class bulldozer. Our party has played an energetic role in intensifying and carrying forward this great fightback. The militant parliament march by student-youth comrades on August 9, the countrywide jail bharo campaign on 31 August demanding the resignation of the corrupt and anti-people UPA government and more recently, the historic November 9 Parivartan Rally in Patna have been some inspiring high points of popular mobilisation led by the party in 2012. The bold assertion of the party has also helped us in expanding our interaction with the broader spectrum of Left and democratic forces as evidenced in the successful September 30 national political convention in Delhi and the November 9 Parivartan Rally.
2013 will be the year of the 9th Congress of our party. Preparations for the Congress began a year ago on the basis of a blueprint presented by the CC for getting the whole party ready for this major milestone in our party’s development. The CC had emphasised the following two cardinal points: (i) the whole party – right down to every member and every branch – will have to be mobilised so the Congress can truly represent the highest collective wisdom and strength of the party, and (ii) the task of organisational and ideological preparation for the Congress must be combined with the party’s responsibility to discharge its fullest political role to meet the demands of the evolving situation.
We have by and large proceeded in accordance with this direction. Nearly 80% of our existing party members and branches have already contributed to the 9th Congress fund. Some contributions have also been received from most of our mass organisations. Now as we enter the last leg of the preparation, candidate members must also be mobilised and all our district committees and committees in major cities and sectors must now go in for extensive mass campaign to make the 9th Congress a historic success. This will also be the period for an intensive collective study of draft documents being prepared for the Congress and a vigorous exercise of our inner-party democracy to elect delegates to the Congress.
This 18 December when we observe the fourteenth anniversary of the sad demise of Comrade Vinod Mishra, let us pledge our best efforts for the success of the 9th Congress. Comrade VM had led the party from the Second Congress to the Sixth Congress. These Congresses have been major milestones in the development of our party, marked by intensive ideological-political churning and mobilisation of the entire party. Under his leadership the party fought resolutely against dogmatic ideas and metaphysical outlook to secure a better grasp of Marxist dialectics and unleash greater political dynamism in our practice. Equally firm and relentless has been the party’s fight against liquidationist ideas and signs of opportunism of whatever variety. This is how the party has learnt to emancipate its mind, enrich its understanding of the objective conditions and tasks of our revolution and strengthen its ideological-political will and organisational capacity. As we prepare for the 9th Congress, let us uphold this fine revolutionary tradition of our party and turn the 9th Congress into a platform for an all-round advance of the party and the revolutionary movement.