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CPI(ML)’s Historic Sixth Congress at Varanasi

Varanasi as the venue for the Sixth Congress of CPI(ML) has some special significance. It is from here, a citadel of Saffron brigade, that the CPI(ML) sounded its bugle raising war cry against Sangh Parivar in 1993 when thousands of CPI(ML) demonstrators courted arrest raising the slogan “We will not let BJP make Kashi another Ayodhya!”. It is in this region that the Party has been working for long to expand its peasant movement of Bihar eastwards into UP. Here the Party has been trying, with some initial success, to restore the old communist bases which had slipped under BSP, back to the left fold. Hence, it is quite natural that from this political nerve centre of eastern Uttar Pradesh, the Party declared, through its Sixth Congress, its intent to take on the challenge posed by the growing threat of communal-fascist BJP with all its might even as the latter was grabbing power in this crucial state through horse trading and other dubious means.

The Sixth Congress was held in Nagar Nigam Hall, named Charu Sabhagar (Charu Hall), the largest auditorium for such occasions available in this historic town. The Congress formally began with the hoisting of red flag by veteran leader Comrade Pritviraj Singh, who also happens to be one of the founders of Communist Party of India in Bihar. 657 delegates including 80 women from 17 states and 21 observers attended the Sixth Congress. The open session of the Congress began with the singing of International. Comrade Akhilendra Pratap Singh welcomed the delegates. A condolence resolution paying homage to Party leaders, cadres, activists and sympathisers as well as prominent friends of the Party and leaders in the international communist movement who became martyrs or passed away in the intervening period since the Fifth Congress was presented by Comrade Nagbhushan Patnaik. Comrade Vinod Mishra, General Secretary of the Party, delivered the inaugural address.

After a brief recess and cultural programmes the delegates session of the Congress began. A 7-member Presidium, with Comrade Nagbhushan Patnaik as the chairman and Comrades Pawan Sharma, Kumudini Pati, Swapan Mukherjee, Shankar, Saroj Choubey and Jayant Rongpi as members, was elected. An 8-member technical assistance committee was also elected to assist the Presidium in the conduct of the proceedings.

Comrade Vinod Mishra presented the Political-Organisational Report, the key document outlining Party’s political tactics for the oncoming period, to the Congress. The 37-page document (Highlights given elsewhere in this issue.) was taken up for discussion in five parts. In all, 470 amendments were submitted by the delegates and 154 comrades took part in discussions over their amendments which stretched for a duration of nearly 25 hours. After due consideration, 45 amendments were accepted by the Central Committee for incorporation into the document.

The discussion on the first section dealing with the international situation mainly centered around the question of multipolarisation and China. Some delegates wondered whether the present antagonisms have matured enough to the extent of characterising different power centres as poles. Citing Russia’s somersault on NATO and China’s attempt to seek greater economic integration with the West, some comrades pointed to the possibility of reconciling existing conflicts. On China, some comrades were not in favour of adopting a critical tone regarding the changes in that country. After discussions and clarifications offered by the CC, these comrades did not press for a division on their amendments. There were 75 amendments in this section and 24 comrades took part in discussions.

The second part of the Political-Organisational Report dealt with the current political situation and Party’s tactics in the main. Additionally, there was a review of the Party’s united front practice at different levels, analysis of certain specific features shaping up in recent times as phenomena in the political scene as well as a review of our work in the parliamentary front. Some 85 amendments were received in this section and 37 comrades participated in the discussions. The discussions on this part of the report mainly centred on nuances in Party’s political tactics. A few comrades felt that in view of the growing BJP threat, this party should be characterised as the main enemy among the two enemies, Congress(I) and BJP. Few others felt that characterising BJP as the main enemy among the two would blunt the struggle against Congress(I) which continues to remain one of the principal parties of the ruling classes. There was some discussion on the process of emergence of a democratic front and some comrades opined that we should go in for an IPF-type of front. Dalit question and ways and means of expanding Party’s work among Muslims etc. are other issues which came up for discussion. There was also a vigorous discussion on work on the parliamentary front, especially on how best to overcome the distortions that have crept into our work in the district councils in Assam. After clarification of the position of the draft by Comrade Dipankar Bhattacharya on behalf of the outgoing Central Committee, the delegates who had given amendments on political tactics did not press for them, reflecting thereby total consensus on this vital part of Political-Organisational report.

The third part of the document was devoted to the summing up of experiences on peasant movement and it gave exhaustive summary of the main features of the struggle of the poor peasantry under Party’s leadership districtwise in almost every major area of our work among peasantry, mainly in Bihar including Jharkhand region and also in eastern UP, West Bengal, AP, Tripura, TN and Orissa. A vigorous discussion ensued on this section of the Political-Organisational Report. A total of 120 amendments had been received and 45 comrades participated in the discussions which were mainly centred on the reasons for the stagnation of kisan sabha and on how to activise it, on effectively organising resistance against the private armies and marauding gangs of anarchists, the role and specific form of our self-defense formations and on winning over the poor peasant social base of RJD etc.

About 190 amendments had been received on the section dealing with various mass fronts and cultural front and 34 comrades took part in the discussions. On the last part concerning Party organisation, 210 amendments had been received and 28 comrades participated in the discussions.

After discussions on these five parts, the draft of the Political-Organisational document as a whole was put to vote and passed unanimously by the house.

Next, three draft policy resolutions viz. on tactics, on nationality question and on agrarian policy were taken up for discussion. (For draft texts see October issue of Liberation) Discussions mainly centred on federalism in the nationality draft and on the slogan of land nationalisation in agrarian policy and after acceptance of certain amendments all three policy resolutions were passed unanimously.

The outgoing Central Committee had proposed a list of 38 amendments to the Party Constitution including those accepted by the CC from among those submitted by Party members before the one-month stipulated time. After elaborate explanations by Comrade Swadesh Bhattacharya on these amendments, the house unanimously passed these amendments. The congress also listened to and approved a report presented to it by the outgoing Central Control Commission (CCC).

Subsequently, the congress elected a new five-member CCC with Comrades Shankar Mitra, Taqui Rahim, Geeta Das, Jagdish Prasad and Brij Bihari Lal as its members. Comrade Shankar Mitra was subsequently re-elected its Chairman. The Congress also elected a 39-member Central Committee (38 elected members plus the Chairman of the CCC as its ex-officio member). The outgoing CC had proposed an official panel of 38 names and five other candidates entered the contest from among the delegates. All the members in the official panel were elected. (See box for the list of new CCMs).

Cultural groups from West Bengal, Assam, UP and Bihar gave performances during the recess between sessions. Notably, the hour-long mime show by a youth cultural group from West Bengal won whole-hearted praise from the audience. Singers from Andhra, Bhojpur and Bengal sang revolutionary songs. Kala Commune, an artist collective, based in Benaras did a splendid job in decorating the venue of the Congress as well as the entire city of Benaras. The new Central Committee unanimously re-elected Comrade Vinod Mishra as the General Secretary. Comrade Mishra, in his stirring concluding address to the Congress (See box for the text), called upon the comrades to unite more firmly to take on the daunting challenges and make maximum out of the bright prospects unfolding before the Party. Especially, he called upon them to go on an offensive against the saffron brigade. He also outlined three major tasks before the Party: 1) To dislodge opportunist Left from the driver’s seat in the left movement of the country; 2) To smash Ranvir Sena and other feudal private armies; and 3) To build a broadest possible democratic front.

Following this, the delegate session came to a close with the singing of International on 25 October. Next day, Benaras witnessed probably the most impressive Left rally in this city in recent years.

 

Home > Liberation Main Page > Index Page November 1997 > ARTICLE