Ahead of the CPI(M)’s 23rd national conference scheduled to be held in April at Kannur, the party released its draft political resolution (DPR) to be discussed among its members at all levels. The DPR alleges that the BJP Government at the Centre is implementing the “fascistic agenda” of the RSS and calls for broader unity of secular forces based on a “Left Democratic Programme.”
When asked to explain the programme, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said cooperative production and marketing should be promoted for agriculture production, privatisation should be stopped and MSMEs should be supported in industrial production. He said the DPR is only the framework of this alternative and details will be worked out after discussions on this in the 23rd Party Congress (the official title of national conference) of the CPI(M).
Under the title of “Safeguarding Economic Sovereignty”, the DPR said: “Reverse the privatisation of PSUs and government departments; ensure basic services like water, electricity, public transport, health and education; scrap National Monetisation Pipeline and Ordinance Factories corporatisation; end crony capitalism; promote the MSMEs; protection of the informal sector; taxing the super-rich; restore balanced development; hike public investment to build much needed infrastructure, generating jobs and boosting domestic demand; implement land reforms; development of agriculture through cooperative farming, production and marketing. Strengthen India’s food security.”
The DPR noted that the eight years of the BJP Government have seen the consolidation of the communal corporate nexus mounting authoritarian attacks.
BJP eroding secular values
“Since returning to government in 2019 it has been aggressively furthering the Hindu Rashtra agenda of the fascistic RSS. This is accompanied by an equally aggressive pursuit of neo-liberal policies and growing authoritarian governance. The RSS driven Hindutva Rashtra agenda is perniciously eroding the Constitutional framework and destroying the secular democratic character of the Indian Republic,” the DPR said.
It added that the Congress’s political influence and organisational strength has been declining and currently it is plunged in a series of crises with defections of several leaders to the BJP in various states. “While it proclaims secularism, it is unable to effectively mount an ideological challenge to Hindutva forces and often adopts a compromising approach. A weakened Congress is unable to rally all the secular opposition parties,” it said calling for a broader unity of all secular forces and parties.