Speech of Manik Sarkar, President of Inaugural Session of 24th Congress of Communist Party of India (Marxist)

 

Coordinator of the Polit Bureau, Comrade Prakash Karat

Chairman of the Reception Committee, Comrade K. Balakrishnan

Leaders of the Left Parties on the dais

Delegates, Distinguished Guests and Friends,

Vanakkam.

We are assembled here in Madurai for the 24th Congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Madurai has a rich history as an ancient city and a seat of Tamil culture.  Madurai is also a centre with a vibrant tradition of the Communist and working class movement.  Many stalwarts of the Communist movement hailed from here or worked in this city. P. Ramamoorthi and N. Sankariah are two prominent such names.

I welcome Comrade D. Raja, General Secretary of CPI, Comrade Dipankar Bhattacharya, General Secretary of CPI(ML) Liberation, Comrade Manoj Bhattacharya, General Secretary of RSP and Comrade G. Devarajan, General Secretary of AIFB who are attending this inaugural session. Their presence augurs well for the strengthening of Left unity.

I had the privilege to attend the 9th Congress of the CPI(M) held in Madurai in 1972 as a delegate.

On this occasion, I extend my warm revolutionary greetings to the lakhs of Party members, supporters and Left sympathisers of Madurai and Tamilnadu.

The 24th Congress of the CPI(M) is taking place at a time when American imperialism is becoming more assertive after Donald Trump took over the Presidency.  The coming days will see tumultuous developments and we must be prepared to step up our anti-imperialist campaigns and struggles.

Eleven years have elapsed under the Modi government. It has seen the consolidation of the Hindutva-authoritarian regime.  At no time has the axis between the big corporates and the RSS – BJP – been so strong and blatant.  The result has been subversion of democracy, secularism and federalism.

For the vast mass of the ordinary people of the country, it spells suffering from unemployment, rising prices, agrarian distress and corruption.  Minorities are being systematically persecuted and reduced to second class citizens.

The resistance to the Hindutva-corporate regime has been going on.  Every section of the working people are coming out to defend their rights. In this connection, I salute the workers of the Samsung India factory, who conducted a successful 38-day strike in Kancheepuram braving all sorts of repression.

The 24th Congress will discuss and show the way for:

  • Uniting all secular and democratic forces to take on to fight, isolate and defeat the BJP-RSS.
  • It will discuss how to widen and intensify the struggles of the working class, peasantry, urban and rural poor and champion the rights of the dalits, adivasis, women and minorities.

The Party Congress has, on its agenda, how to enhance the independent strength of the Party by expanding the political, ideological and organisational activities. Waging the multi-faceted struggle against Hindutva ideology and communal forces has to take centre-stage.

A strong Party organisation is required to implement the political line of mobilising the millions of working people and the youth.  The Party must have its organisation at the work place and the residential areas. An organisation capable of connecting with the people and launching struggles of the working people.

Let the 24th Congress be a landmark in the ongoing struggle to defeat the forces of reaction and to go towards building a Left and democratic alternative.