Pinarayi Vijayan and MK Stalin addressed the delegates at a seminar, titled "Federalism and Centre-state relations", during the conference.
Published Oct 02, 2022 | 12:59 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 02, 2022 | 1:03 PM
Kerala, Tamilnadu chief ministers along with leaders of CPI at CPI state conference in Thiruvananthapuram. (Supplied)
Amid allegations of factionalism, the state conference of the Communist Party of India (CPI) continued to be held in Thiruvananthapuram.
On the second day of the conference, the chief ministers of Kerala and Tamil Nadu addressed the delegates at a seminar organised as part of the event.
The seminar, titled “Federalism and Centre-state relations”, was held at the Tagore Theatre in Kerala’s capital city.
CPI national secretary D Raja in his address to the delegates said, “We the communists are fighting for a new social system. We are fighting against economic exploitation, we are fighting against castism, we are fighting against the patriarchy and our fight is to build a casteless and classless new India, a socialist India.”
He also opined that the current BJP government at the Centre was controlled by the RSS, and stated that all the progressive and secular forces needed to come together to defeat the BJP-RSS.
The state conference of the oldest Communist party in the country is being held at a time when the party is facing unprecedented political turmoil and factionalism.
The absence of the CPI’s senior leaders C Divakaran and KE Ismail during the flag-bearing procession before the conference on 29 September in Neyyatinkara created a major controversy.
The senior leaders are opposing the 75-year age cap set for holding positions in the party.
Kaanam Rajendran began his speech on Friday by stating that he and senior CPI leaders KE Ismail and V Chamunni joined the state council during a state conference in 1971.
He claimed that in 1971, the membership of CPI in the state was 34,600. However, currently it is around 1.78 lakh.
According to Rajendran, significant growth in membership happened after the party conference in Malappuram last year.
His speech was considered to be in response to the remarks made by Divakaran and Ismail regarding the seniority of the leaders within the party.
However, CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran refuted the allegations of factionalism and said it is merely a creation by the media in the state.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in his address at the conference emphasised that Centre-state relations need to be democratised.
Taking a dig at both the Congress and the BJP, Vijayan said “…The Congress that follows policies of globalisation was not ready to democratise Centre-state relations. The Congress always had a negative approach to the federal system. The BJP is currently trying to strengthen the same approach started by the Congress.”
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin in his address lauded the friendship between the Dravidian movement and the Communist movement, and said the friendship dated back to the days of its inception.
Talking about his repeated visits to Kerala, he said similar to any programme in Tamil Nadu, he was participating happily in programmes held in Kerala as well. He said: “…Even though there are state boundaries that divide us, we are here forgetting our borders to strengthen the federalism of our country.”
He also recounted that when India became independent and the Communist Party was banned, communist leaders were hiding in the homes of leaders of the DMK. He also stated that although both parties are different, there is a half-red colour in DMK’s flag which shows the similarity of ideology.
As Day 2 of the conference ended, all eyes are on Sunday’s sessions.
It is expected that a new party state council will be selected and the council will further elect the new state secretary.
As Kaanam Rajendran has already completed two terms as the party chief, those who oppose Rajendran aim to replace him.
The conference will also examine the implementation of the age cap of 75 for leaders to hold office in the party.
The selection of the delegates to represent Kerala in the 24th party congress in Vijayawada commencing on 14 October will also be decided on Sunday.
