CPI(ML)'s 11th Party Congress Begins in Patna With Stress on Unity Against 'Communal Fascism'

Patna: The Communist Party of India (Marxist-Lenninist Liberation) ’s [CPI(ML)] 11th congress began in Patna on Thursday. The congress stressed the need for comprehensive unity to fight against the threat of "communal fascism" and replacing the BJP-led government at the centre.

“Today, the country is facing danger many times bigger than all the major threats of the past – the threat of communal fascism. The process of destruction, started by the Sangh-BJP from Babri Masjid, has reached the destruction of the country’s constitution and democracy,” CPI(ML) state secretary Kunal said in his welcome address in the inaugural session of the five-day all-India party congress.

“If the first term of the Modi government was a warning, then the second one is proving to be its peak. Unbridled corporate loot, politics of communal frenzy and mobilisation, defiant social conduct based on Manuwadi social codes, open violation of public rights and ruthless suppression of public resistance, etc. have pushed the country to the level of a terrible disaster,” he said.

Kunal pointedly said that the party would continue to fight against fascism. “To get rid of the BJP government and oust its ideology from both the state and the society are the most important challenges before the country and this is also the main agenda of our 11th party congress," he said.

According to Kunal, the party’s ‘Save Democracy—Save the Country’ rally in Patna on February 15 raised a strong voice for the struggle against fascism. Bihar has also shown a new path to the whole country in the past. The ‘Mahagathbandhan’ in Bihar gives a new model to keep out the BJP from the state’s power, and we hope that the entire country will move forward on this path in the coming days.

CPI-ML general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, in his address at the inaugural session of the party congress, said there will be a long fight against fascism in the country. "In the coming days, we will have to face more lies, suppression and hate. There is no other option but to fight a long battle against the BJP and RSS network. Fascism has come into the open since 2014. Latest income tax raids on BBC offices in the country is another example that the BJP-led central government will not tolerate international media.”

Bhattacharya said that in recent years, social and economic inequality has increased. He accused the BJP-led central government of snatching the rights of state governments and destroying the federal structure. He also said the government is trying to control the judiciary and making an attempt at centralisation of power in all places.

“There is a need for a comprehensive unity to fight against privatisation, bulldozer and issue of employment, education, health and environment," he added.

CP(ML) leader Kumar Perwez said the inaugural session of the party congress is an open one in which CPI, CPI(M), RSP and All India Forward Bloc leaders are participating. Other Left party leaders are attending it. The leaders of communist parties from neighbouring Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are also participating. About 20 years ago, in 2002, the CPI(ML) held its 7th all-India party congress in Patna.

The party has invited state presidents of its allies Congress, Janata Dal-United, RED and HAM, for the national convention on February 18.

The CPI(ML), which has 12 sitting MLAs in the state Assembly, is part of the ruling Mahagathbandhan, along with the CPI(M), CPI, RJD, JD-U and HAM.