July 03, 2011
TRIPURA
SC Coordination Committee Holds State Conference
Rahul Sinha
DEFENDING the Left Front government of Tripura in order to safeguard
the democratic rights of the people in general and of the scheduled
caste and dalit people in particular, was the central call that
emerged out of the seventh conference of the Tripura Tapasili Jati
Samanwaya Samiti (Tripura Scheduled Caste Coordination Committee) held
at Agartala from June 25 to 27.
The conference took place at the Panchayati Raj Training Institute of
Arundhatinagar in Agartala. The venue of the conference was named
after Comrade Baidyanath Majumdar, one of the stalwarts of the Left
and democratic movement in the state.
IMPRESSIVE
OPENING RALLY
The conference got off the mark with an impressive mass meeting at
Sarvadharma mission ground in Arundhatinagar. Braving the scorching
heat and intermittent showers, thousands of working people, including
a large number of youth and women, attended the mass meeting that was
presided over by Anil Sarkar.
Addressing the mass meeting, Tripura chief minister Manik Sarkar came
down heavily on the Congress led UPA-2 government at the centre. The
latter, he said, has added insult to injury by increasing the prices
of diesel, kerosene oil and LPG at a time when the people of this
country are already suffering from unabated rises in the prices of
essential commodities. He said the impact of this hike in the prices
of petro products would not be confined to the these products alone;
rather its cascading effect would be felt on the passenger fares as
well as freight charges, leading to a further rise in the prices of
essential commodities. Such a hike has been unprecedented since
independence, Manik Sarkar said, adding that the policies of this
government are directed towards protecting the interests of black
marketers and hoarders. Never has the country witnessed in the past
such all encompassing corruption and plunder of the wealth belonging
to the masses, he said.
Sarkar also came down heavily on the opposition BJP, saying it never
speaks for the people but is rather busy in misleading the people.
Attempts are on to create a situation of anarchy. He urged upon the
mass of people to build up a united struggle against the policies of
the centre which are harming the vital interests of the poor, toiling
and backward sections of the people. He also urged the people of
Tripura defeat all the attempts at creating anarchy in the state.
Sukumar Barman (general secretary of the organisation), Sudhan Das
(general secretary, Tripura Fishermen's Union), Jharna Das Baidya
(member of parliament) and other leaders of the association also
addressed the meeting. CPI(M) state committee secretary Bijan Dhar and
CPI(M) Central Committee member Rama Das were also present.
In his presidential address, Anil Sarkar elaborated the steps taken by
the Left Front government for the development of the scheduled castes.
He said the democratic minded people of the state must intensify their
struggle against the conspiracies to unseat the Left Front government.
Before the mass meeting started, Anil Sarkar hoisted the red flag of
the organisation amidst slogans in memory of the martyrs.
DELEGATES
SESSION
The delegates session of the conference got under way on June 25
evening, with 518 delegates including 66 women from different parts of
the state taking part in it.
CPI(M) state secretary Bijan Dhar inaugurated the session. Explaining
the national political situation for the delegates, Dhar said the Left
is under a particularly severe attack from the ruling class and all
reactionary forces for the last the years. The natural resources of
the country are being plundered. The corporates are capturing the
national wealth. People's money is being looted by a nexus of the
corrupt big corporates, politicians and bureaucrats. The Congress led
central government is not willing to give any relief to the people who
are suffering from the rising prices of essential commodities. The
agrarian crisis has become all the more acute, with farmers' suicides
going on unabatedly. It is the Left parties alone who are organising
the people against this situation. So it is quite natural that they
are the target of corporate onslaughts. The continued attacks ---
killing of 19 CPI(M) cadre, capture of more than 550 party offices in
West Bengal etc --- are parts of the heinous attempts to strangulate
democracy itself. Attempts are on to undo the political and
socio-economic advances that have been made in favour of the scheduled
castes, tribes and other poor during the 34 years of Left Front
government in West Bengal. Dhar said a conspiracy is afoot in Tripura
too to destabilise the atmosphere of peace, development and democracy
here. We have to consolidate our strength, win new sections over and
make them politically conscious in order to resist the anti-Left
attacks.
Sukumar Barman placed the draft political-organisational report in the
conference. The report attacked the neo-liberal policies of the
Congress led UPA government at the centre for the unabated rise in the
prices of essential commodities and the unprecedented corruption in
the country. Referring to the pathetic situation facing the dalit
mass, the report said the SCs constitute 17 per cent of India's
population but 85.25 per cent of them are landless. Incidents of
brutality and social oppressions are perpetrated against them, day in
and day out, in different Congress and BJP ruled states. The report
stressed that it is the Left alone which is fighting for social
justice for the dalits, and detailed the efforts of the Left Front
government of Tripura for their development. It urged upon the masses
to build up a massive, intensified and sustained class based movement
to usher into a classless society which alone can ensure social
justice for dalit masses, doing away with the present oppressive class
and caste based structure of society. At the same time it asked the
dalit masses in particular and people of the state in general to
protect the Left Front government against the attempts to unseat it by
anarchy and misinformation campaign of the opposition and to ensure a
stable atmosphere of peace, development and democracy in the state.
A total of 46 delegates participated in the discussion on the report.
The delegates mentioned the efforts of the Left Front government of
the state for the benefit of the dalits. They were vocal against the
anti-poor policies of the central government. They criticised the
heinous attempts of the opposition to unseat the Left Front government
by creating an atmosphere of terror and vowed to build up resistance
against them.
Leaders of constituent organisations of the Coordination Committee,
like Sudhan Das, Sunirmal Hrishidas, Ratan Dhanuk and Priyatosh Das,
also addressed the delegate session.
On the second day of the conference, chief minister Manik Sarkar
addressed the delegates. He said the oppressors use the caste system
as a ploy to create division among the people to continue their system
of exploitation. Since long the Congress party has been representing
the class interest of the monopoly capital, landlords and Jotdars. No
matter how tall it talks of protecting the interests of the dalits and
other poor, it is difficult to believe them. Despite their attempts
to perpetuate the exploitation of lower and downtrodden sections, the
ruling classes are unsure of sustaining this exploitative system. So
they are trying to ensure that no force emerges so strong as to
destroy this system. In areas where the Left and democratic forces are
not strong enough, a section of dalit leaders is helping to weaken the
class movement. A large section of the media and a section of the
intelligentsia are working overtime for them. The Left bastion of West
Bengal has been playing a vital role in fighting the class
exploitation, uniting the people against the centre's anti-people
policies and for alternative policies. So it is natural that those
representing vested interests are elated at the electoral defeat of
the Left Front in West Bengal. He said in Tripura too, the Congress is
overjoyed at this electoral result and is dreaming of pulling down the
Left Front government here too. But the toiling, democratic minded
people of the state are determined to protect this government.
CPI(M) Central Committee member Rama Das, AIDWA state secretary
Krishna Rakshit, DYFI state secretary Amal Chakraborty and Narayan Deb
(AIKS) greeted the conference. In his concluding speech on behalf of
the presidium, Anil Sarkar said the Left led governments have always
been steady allies in the downtrodden people's struggles. The debacle
of the Left in other states has to be turned around into a victory
there.
NEW
COMMITTEE
The conference unanimously elected a new state committee with 129
members, including 45 new faces. Anil Sarkar and Sukumar Barman were
re-elected president and general secretary respectively. A new
29-member secretariat was also elected.
The conference adopted the draft polorg report, a 21 point charter of
demands and 7 resolutions. The resolutions were on the attacks on the
Left and democratic movement in West Bengal, on the social-political
and economic atrocities against dalits all over the country, on the
callous attitude of the centre to price rises, on a universal public
distribution system and food security, on immediate passage of the
Women's Reservation Bill, on the deprivation meted out to Tripura by
the 13th Finance Commission and on the conspiracies to unseat the Left
Front government etc.
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