April 22, 2022 marks the 53rd anniversary of the foundation of the CPI(ML). On this historic occasion, the Central Committee extends warm revolutionary greetings to all members and supporters of CPI(ML) and renews the party’s resolve to carry forward the battle for democracy and people’s rights against all odds. It is also the 152nd birth anniversary of Comrade Lenin. We pay our respectful homage to Comrade Lenin and all our founding and departed leaders and martyrs. Later this year, on July 28 we will observe the 50th anniversary of the martyrdom of Comrade Charu Mazumdar and on December 10, the 50th anniversary of the martyrdom of Comrades Jagdish Master and Ramayan Ram.
Last two years have been overshadowed by the Covid19 pandemic and the cruel lockdown enforced by the state in the name of tackling it. In spite of it, the people of India and our party have successfully waged a series of struggles over many of our basic demands and rights. The historic farmers’ movement has compelled the Modi government to repeal the pro-corporate farm laws. The battle is now on to secure fair MSP for all crops and all sections of farmers including sharecroppers and abolition of all debts on the working people, for secure jobs and living wages for all workers and job-seekers and to stop the sale and transfer of public assets to a handful of corporations.
Every electoral victory emboldens the BJP and the Sangh brigade to intensify their fascist offensive. After the 2019 victory, Modi had quickly scrapped Article 370 and reduced Jammu and Kashmir to two Union Territories and gone on to amend the Citizenship Act. This time, after the BJP victories in UP, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur, they are trying to destabilise non-BJP governments and tighten their control in states like Bihar where the BJP has for so long been using Nitish Kumar as its face or mask. They have also intensified the economic war on the people with massive increase in prices of fuel, food and other essential goods and services while keeping the people communally polarised by injecting hate and fear and instigating violence.
Even as the crisis intensifies, the people are being sought to be demoralised and intimidated into accepting the BJP rule and the RSS ideology as the inescapable destiny for India. But the 75th anniversary of India’s independence keeps reminding us of the powerful radical legacy of our freedom movement and the great dreams of a free, progressive and egalitarian India ignited by the likes of Bhagat Singh, Ambedkar and Periyar and other anti-colonial anti-caste crusaders who preceded them. The onus is now on us to carry forward that legacy and free India from the fascist clutches by intensifying the battle for liberty, justice and democracy. To this end we need to forge a strong unity of all Left, progressive and fighting forces and direct the agenda and struggles of the people towards a powerful assertion in the electoral arena.
We need to expand and strengthen the party to carry out this historic task. Early next year, we will hold the 11th Congress of the Party in Patna and in early 2024 we will face the all-important Lok Sabha elections. The entire Party must start preparing for these tasks in real earnest. Expansion of the Party to newer areas and among newer sections of the people through large-scale recruitment of candidate members, strengthening of the Party’s unity and fighting power through improved functioning of Party committees and branches and stricter observance of Party discipline, and elevation of the ideological-political level of the Party through serious study of Party organs and Marxist literature – we must move ahead in this direction even as we fulfil our everyday responsibilities in terms of mass contact and mass struggles.
Red Salute to all our beloved leaders and martyrs.
Establish CPI(ML) as a vibrant, committed and powerful force of anti-fascist resistance across India.
- Central Committee, CPI(ML)
