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The Kerala conference of the CPI(M), being held in preparation for its 20th National Congress with which the party is expected to change its ideological base to a more-or-less swadeshi mode, got off to a colourful start in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday amid an intense row with its ally, the CPI, and with severe attacks against the UPA regime at the Centre.
The four-day conference began with State party secretary Pinarayi Vijayan lighting the torch at the main venue, the Chandrasekharan Nair Stadium, and senior-most leader of the party in Kerala VS Achuthanandan hoisting the party flag in front of the AKG Hall. General secretary Prakash Karat inaugurated the delegates’ meet at the State party headquarters, the AKG Centre.
The Marxists are holding their State conference prior to its national congress in the context of unprecedented setbacks for it in the recent past like the simultaneous electoral debacles in West Bengal and Kerala, ideological confusions over the socialist model to follow, increasing lust for power and money among leaders, etc. The party congress will be held in Kozhikode in April.
Inaugurating the delegates’ meet held as part of the conference, at which 568 delegates representing 370,818 party members were participating, general secretary Karat unleashed scathing criticism against the UPA Government at the Centre and sought to reassure the Church that the Marxists were not against it or any other religion.
Karat said that rampant corruption as seen in cases like 2-G Spectrum allocation were the only contribution of the UPA Government to the nation in its rule since 2004. More billionaires were born in the country during UPA rule and it was during the same period, the highest number of farmers’ suicides had taken place in India, he said.
A strong Lokpal was necessary to check the rise of corruption, Karat said, adding that Lokpal alone, however, would not be sufficient to end corruption. The Congress Governments were trying to trap Left leaders in false cases using agencies like the CBI, he alleged. The CPI(M) would counter such cases against party leaders in total unity, he said.
About the international political situation, Karat said the era of unipolar world was over and all the signs available now were pointing at a multipolar world. “The global situation is changing. People are on the streets for their right to live. The discussions now are over the future of capitalism,” Karat said.
Karat said there was a conspiracy behind the controversy over the picture of Jesus Christ put up at a party exhibition “I am saying this to the Church’s clergy in Kerala. We are not against any religion,” he said. Quoting Fidel Castro, he said the similarities between communism and Christianity were hundred times more than those between capitalism and Christianity.
The CPI(M) conference will conclude on February 10 after the election of members to the State committee and the State secretary. Observers expect Pinarayi Vijayan, occupying the throne of the party boss in Kerala for the past 14 years, to get re-elected as secretary despite the stipulation proposed by the central leadership that there should be no fourth term for leaders in high posts.
Meanwhile, the standoff between the CPI(M) and the CPI, leading partners in the Opposition LDF in Kerala, worsened with more leaders from both sides joining the war which started with State CPI secretary CK Chandrappan’s scathing attacks against the Marxists.
The political report to be presented at CPI’s State conference has held the CPI(M) responsible for all the setbacks the Left has suffered recently in the State. It has even said that the CPI(M), as leader of the LDF, had failed in keeping the constituent parties in unity. The CPI State conference would start in Kollam on Wednesday.
The four-day conference began with State party secretary Pinarayi Vijayan lighting the torch at the main venue, the Chandrasekharan Nair Stadium, and senior-most leader of the party in Kerala VS Achuthanandan hoisting the party flag in front of the AKG Hall. General secretary Prakash Karat inaugurated the delegates’ meet at the State party headquarters, the AKG Centre.
The Marxists are holding their State conference prior to its national congress in the context of unprecedented setbacks for it in the recent past like the simultaneous electoral debacles in West Bengal and Kerala, ideological confusions over the socialist model to follow, increasing lust for power and money among leaders, etc. The party congress will be held in Kozhikode in April.
Inaugurating the delegates’ meet held as part of the conference, at which 568 delegates representing 370,818 party members were participating, general secretary Karat unleashed scathing criticism against the UPA Government at the Centre and sought to reassure the Church that the Marxists were not against it or any other religion.
Karat said that rampant corruption as seen in cases like 2-G Spectrum allocation were the only contribution of the UPA Government to the nation in its rule since 2004. More billionaires were born in the country during UPA rule and it was during the same period, the highest number of farmers’ suicides had taken place in India, he said.
A strong Lokpal was necessary to check the rise of corruption, Karat said, adding that Lokpal alone, however, would not be sufficient to end corruption. The Congress Governments were trying to trap Left leaders in false cases using agencies like the CBI, he alleged. The CPI(M) would counter such cases against party leaders in total unity, he said.
About the international political situation, Karat said the era of unipolar world was over and all the signs available now were pointing at a multipolar world. “The global situation is changing. People are on the streets for their right to live. The discussions now are over the future of capitalism,” Karat said.
Karat said there was a conspiracy behind the controversy over the picture of Jesus Christ put up at a party exhibition “I am saying this to the Church’s clergy in Kerala. We are not against any religion,” he said. Quoting Fidel Castro, he said the similarities between communism and Christianity were hundred times more than those between capitalism and Christianity.
The CPI(M) conference will conclude on February 10 after the election of members to the State committee and the State secretary. Observers expect Pinarayi Vijayan, occupying the throne of the party boss in Kerala for the past 14 years, to get re-elected as secretary despite the stipulation proposed by the central leadership that there should be no fourth term for leaders in high posts.
Meanwhile, the standoff between the CPI(M) and the CPI, leading partners in the Opposition LDF in Kerala, worsened with more leaders from both sides joining the war which started with State CPI secretary CK Chandrappan’s scathing attacks against the Marxists.
The political report to be presented at CPI’s State conference has held the CPI(M) responsible for all the setbacks the Left has suffered recently in the State. It has even said that the CPI(M), as leader of the LDF, had failed in keeping the constituent parties in unity. The CPI State conference would start in Kollam on Wednesday.
