MADURAI (TN), April 2: Only the Left has the wherewithal and conviction to fight and counter “Hindutva neo-fascism”, and the CPI(M) will work toward strengthening Left unity and bringing together secular democratic forces against the BJP-RSS, CPI(M) interim coordinator Prakash Karat said at the 24th party congress that kicked off here on Wednesday.
Being held at the Thamukkam ground in the temple city of Madurai, the inaugural session of the congress was attended by prominent Left leaders, including CPI general secretary D Raja, CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, RSP general secretary Manoj Bhattacharya and AIFB general secretary G Devarajan.
Addressing the party congress that will decide the CPI(M)’s line of action in the days to come, Karat said the nature of the government and the ruling party can be gauged by asking three questions — “Who claims to be a friend of Donald Trump? Who is a close friend of Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani? Who owes loyalty to the RSS?”
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“The answer to all three questions is the same — Narendra Modi and the BJP,” Karat said.
Claiming that the Modi government represents the “Hindutva-corporate nexus that is closely allied to US imperialism”, Karat said that in its third term, the government is displaying “neo-fascist characteristics”, which entail the constant targeting of the Muslim minority.
“It is the Left which has the ideological wherewithal and conviction to fight and counter Hindutva neo-fascism. Only the Left can lead the fight against imperialist designs in our country. The CPI(M) will work with all the Left forces to build a Left-wing democratic alternative,” Karat said.
The senior Left leader also said that the party congress will address the prime issue of how to increase the independent strength of the CPI(M), as he emphasised on strengthening Left unity.
In his address, Raja said, “Structural oppressions of class, caste, and patriarchy have become brutal under the BJP-RSS regime, which is nothing but a political tool of the bourgeois. India is not just suffering from bad governance, India is suffocating under a system designed to exploit.”
He said the occasion called for all communist and Left forces to forge principled unity to mount resistance against “corporate-communal assault”.
“We must be the voice of the voiceless. Jai Bhim, Lal Salaam and Inqilab Zindabad are not just slogans,” he said.
CPI(ML)’s Bhattacharya expressed concern over Home Minister Amit Shah’s announcement of making India “Naxal-free”, and alleged it has unleashed a “brutal war” on the Adivasis in Bastar of Chhattisgarh.
“We must fight for an immediate end to this reign of unmitigated state terror and surveillance and release of all activists currently subjected to indefinite detention without any fair trial,” he said while echoing calls for Left unity.
“Despite all our historical differences, we in the CPI(ML) hope to work together with the CPI(M) and other sections of the communist movement in India more closely than ever before to meet the challenges of the day,” he said.
The Left leaders also in one voice condemned Israel’s aggression in Gaza and expressed concern over the international situation, especially with the situation in the US under the Trump administration.
The venue of the CPI(M) congress has been named “Comrade Sitaram Yechury Nagar” in honour of the leader who passed away last year while serving as the general secretary of the party. The conference is being held in a hall named after the party leader from Kerala, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan.
Former chief minister of Tripura Manik Sarkar, who presided over the inaugural session, called for mobilising the working class people and youths. He said the 24th party congress will show the way for uniting secular and democratic forces to “fight, isolate and defeat” the BJP, and how to widen and intensify the struggles of the working class, peasantry, urban and rural poor.
Politburo member Brinda Karat read out a message paying tribute to Yechury, Kodiyeri, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, and N Sankaraiah. She also paid tributes to party workers who were “killed” and said 22 party workers have lost their lives since the last party congress held in 2022.
The all-India party congress — the supreme organ of the party — is usually convened by the central committee of the CPI(M) once every three years.
The outgoing central committee will recommend names for the election of a new central panel. The committee will also elect members for the Politburo, including the general secretary.
The post of CPI(M) general secretary fell vacant after the demise of Sitaram Yechury last year, with Karat taking charge as the interim coordinator of the party. (PTI)
