Develop the Institutions of People's Power! Build Lok Raj Samitis!

The 5th All-India Convention of the Lok Raj Sangathan (LRS) commenced with the lighting of lamps by five young women in a hall beautifully decorated with banners and filled to capacity. The membership of LRS had travelled from far and near, from Manipur and Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Himachal, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, UP and Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Bengal, Punjab and Haryana, as well as from the U.S. and Canada. The Convention is the most important meeting of the Lok Raj Sangathan, the meeting of its general membership, where the work done in the two years since the last Convention is assessed, the thrust of the work in the coming two years is decided and the All-India Council and office bearers are elected.  

The holding of the Convention was significant given the current political and economic context in India. The crisis in the parliamentary system of democracy is getting revealed more and more with each passing day - in the way the different parties of the bourgeoisie vie for power and money, in the way elections are held, in crimes that come to light committed at the highest political and administrative levels, while the people's concerns are ignored. In the economy, the bourgeoisie is boasting that India has been least affected by the crisis, its economy is growing positively and is the destination of investment for the world but the skyrocketing prices of basic food items like grains, dal and vegetables, the job losses and unemployment are evidence of how well the economy is working for the people! The bourgeoisie has been directly increasing the attacks on the working class through wage and salary cuts and increasing hours of work and is preparing to further capitalist reforms.

In many states, the State has unleashed violent reprisals on the tribal peoples and peasants who are protesting their loss of livelihood because the State has conceded their land and resources to the biggest multi-national capitalists to further expand their corporate enterprises and reap the largest profits. The bourgeoisie is lurching from one crisis to another, but at the same time is squeezing the life blood of the workers and toilers to preserve its profits and power. The only response to all this is the struggle for people to take power in their own hands and organise to establish Lok Raj. The 5th All India Convention of the LRS was characterised by very enthusiastic participation by the hundreds of members, and their resolve to organise to end this unbearable situation by working to establish people’s power.

The Secretary of Lok Raj Sangathan, Prakash Rao, delivered the report of the work of the Sangathan in the last two years. During this time, the members of Lok Raj Sangathan, working in adverse circumstances, in the face of the totally anti-people rule of the bourgeoisie, had strived to implement the decisions of the previous Convention and achieved significant success in various areas. Most significantly, the activists of LRS had set about the task of strengthening and building the organisation very seriously – both in terms of increasing the membership as well as of strengthening the functioning of the various councils and samitis and of setting up new ones. This had to be carried further as reflected in one of the theme banners on stage, which exhorted the members to "Build Lok Raj Samitis".

Shri S. Raghavan, the President elaborated the current situation in India and in the world, in his address to the Convention. He pointed out that this situation clearly reflected the crisis in the system and the need for developing democratic institutions and the process of Lok Raj; the institutions of people's power had to be developed and LRS had to deepen the work it had done so far on this.

The Convention was addressed by past Presidents T. S. Sankaran and Justice Hosbet Suresh, who were in the chair throughout the convention during the two days. Their interventions drew inspiration from the work of building LRS, and at the same time, they were a great source of encouragement for all the delegates participating in the convention. Vice-Presidents Dr Madhavi, Dr LP Singh, Shivanand, Dr Sanjeevani, Shri BB Taware, Prof Anant, Shrimati Shanta Devi and dozens of other activists of the organisation made important interventions.

The spokesperson of the Communist Ghadar Party of India addressed the Convention and applauded the growth and work of LRS. The spokesperson pointed out that the Great October Revolution, whose anniversary coincided with the Convention, had showed the way to end exploitation and there were lessons to be learnt from its successes, even as the people of India had to develop their own model for a society without exploitation. Lok Raj would be realised soon with many more people joining the struggle, the spokesperson declared, to thunderous applause.

Audiovisual presentations on the fielding of peoples’ candidates in the recent assembly elections and on the use of modern information technology to propagate the ideas of the LRS were made as part of the report of work. The gathering heartily applauded the leader of the Molkarni’s Union of Mumbai for her informative and inspiring presentation on the struggle of the domestic workers in Mumbai.

The two days witnessed overwhelming and enthusiastic participation from the members in response to the Report of the Secretary and the President's address. With almost one voice, speakers expressed their support for the work of LRS, their own experience in the struggle and the commitment to take the work further ahead through the strengthening of the Sangathan and its local Samitis. The participants listened to the interventions of members from different parts of the country with rapt attention. They enthusiastically encouraged young boys and girls, some of whom were speaking in public for the first time.

Arising from the presentations and discussions, the Convention unanimously passed important resolutions:

On building and strengthening the organisation;

On continuing LRS' campaign call to punish those guilty of genocide such as that of the Sikhs in 1984;

On continuing, without let up, the struggle to repeal AFSPA, the withdrawal of Armed Forces into barracks, and the punishment of army men involved in crimes against humanity;

Condemning the use of armed force by the state to address political, economic and social problems in light of the Home Ministry's preparations to launch a massive military operation in coordination with the armed forces, against the tribal peoples in Chattisgarh, Orissa, Jharkhand and Bengal.

Calling for the repeal of the SEZ Act, and the Land Acquisition Act under which peasants can be forcibly deprived of their lands under this or that pretext of “greater good”;

Committing its support of the struggle of the people against the adverse clauses in the FTA with ASEAN, committing to continue to work for peace in South Asia.

The Convention called upon the AIC to take steps to commemorate the Centenary of the declaration of International Women's Day on March 8, 2010.

The two-day Convention concluded to the reverberation of militant slogans of "Hum Hai Iske Malik, Hum Hai Hindustan, Mazdoor, Kisan, Aurat aur Jawan " (Workers, Peasants, Women and Youth - we are the rulers, we are Hindustan!).