Thiruvananthapuram: Even as the party grapples with a backlash over the murder of a Youth Congress leader in Kannur, CPIM General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said that “violence is not part of the Communist culture”.
"Assault is not the policy of CPIM. However, we will resist any attacks made on the party. Sometimes, the party must have erred and that would be rectified. Onslaught is the culture of RSS. The 577 torches that were brought to this state conference came from the tombs of martyrs, which means 577 workers had sacrificed their lives to the cause of Left politics," Yechury said in his inaugural address at the party's state conference prior to the 22nd party congress in Thrissur on Monday.
In a scathing attack, the CPIM leader lashed out against the Union government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the PNB fraud.
“Modi used to call the previous Prime Minister Maun Manmohan. Now, Modi is silent over a multi-crore scam. He let the fraud accused Nirav Modi flee the country and has become Maun Modi,” Yechury said.
The four-day state conference held once in three years commenced with the hoisting of the party flag by veteran leader VS Achuthanandan at Thrissur Regional Theatre’s VV Dakshinamurthy Nagar. State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan presented the activity report.
Incidentally, one of the main features of the first state conference of the party after Pinarayi Vijayan took over as chief minister is that factionalism has been weeded out of the party.
As many as 582 party leaders, including 475 delegates, 87 state committee members, four state committee invitees and 16 observers are attending the conference, which is likely to discuss the Kannur murder among and the subsequent arrest of two CPIM workers among other things.
The party also plans to deliberate on the allegations against Kannur district secretary P Jayarajan's style of functioning.
The conference is also expected to take up the issue of expansion of the Left Democratic Front (LDF), especially the alliance with Kerala Congress (M), headed by KM Mani, against whom the LDF had led an agitation over his alleged role in the bar scam and the melee at the Assembly while he attempted to present the state budget in 2015.
An alliance with Congress at the national level, which was earlier rejected by the state unit, is likely to be taken up at the party congress.
Among other issues, allegations against the sons of party leaders, including state secretary and some allegations against ministers are also up for discussion.
Also, the party will be evaluating the controversy over the state cabinet’s reaction to the warning about Cyclone Okhi.
The gathering will discuss the criticism that the state government faced over functioning of the state police department.
The party will also talk about the return of Kannur strongman EP Jayarajan into the cabinet who had to resign following allegations of nepotism.
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