CPIML Central Committee Meeting Concludes in Delhi
Central Committee of CPI(ML) met in Delhi from 25 to 27 March. The meeting began with CCMs paying homage to departed CC member Prabir Haldar and pledging to carry forward his unfinished mission. The following is summary of the deliberations of the CC.
1. Trump 2.0 and India: Trump won a decisive victory in 2024 on a hyper nationalist plank under the slogan MAGA - Make America Great Again. The kind of coalescence of wealth and political and media power seen in Trump 2.0 is unprecedented in the history of the US. From day one, Trump 2.0 has launched a simultaneous assault on democracy, inclusion and diversity in the domestic sphere and on the post-War framework of multilateralism in the international arena. Under the stewardship of Musk, DOGE has begun to terminate employees on a massive scale. Voices of solidarity with Palestine are being persecuted across American campuses. Meanwhile, the crisis-ridden common people are being sought to be mobilised by talks of bringing America's 'wealth and jobs back' through the launch of a tariff war and mass deportation of undocumented immigrants. Diplomacy has given way to televised bullying of visiting leaders.
Over the years, Democrats and Republicans have been converging on most policy issues, especially in the arena of US foreign policy. In the process, Democrats have lost much of their strength to counter the far-right fascistic agenda of the Republican party under Trump. The attempt to discredit Trump by projecting him as Putin's puppet and by invoking the Cold War era antagonism with Russia has failed to have any impact. Trump on the other hand is trying to broker a ceasefire in Ukraine and free the US from the Cold War framework to focus on targeting China. The dumping of Ukraine even at the cost of risking a rift with Europe and a certain weakening of the NATO should be seen as a step towards weaning Russia away from China and checking the BRICS from challenging the hegemony of the US dollar.
The open snubbing of Narendra Modi and the humiliating treatment meted out to Indians without valid immigration documents is also aimed at, among other things, pushing India away from BRICS and to force India to rely more on the US and reduce Indian imports from China and Russia. Just as Modi has been using Indian foreign policy as a tool to secure more contracts for Adani, Trump is now doing the same for Musk. Modi's meeting with the Musk family in America and subsequent concessions granted to Musk's business interests in India (Tesla as well as Starlink) give us a glaring example of this pattern.
Modi's much-hyped international stature and his ability to have simultaneously close trade relations with China and Russia and special ties with the US, and particularly with Trump, has always been central to the Sangh-BJP narrative about India scaling new heights under Modi. Recent developments have shattered that myth. We must seize this moment to boldly uphold the banner of anti-imperialist nationalism and develop it as a key weapon in our anti-fascist armoury.
2. Renewed US-Israel attack on Palestine: Exposing Trump's pretenses about brokering peace in Ukraine and ceasefire in Gaza, Israel has already resumed bombing in Gaza with brazen American support. Trump is also bluntly talking about relocating Palestinians in other Arab countries and turning Gaza into a US-controlled tourist destination. The Trump Administration has also launched a brutal witch hunt of academics and activists opposing Israel and supporting the cause of a free Palestine. The Trump-Netanyahu nexus has emerged as the most vicious global enemy for not just Palestine but for peace, justice, freedom and democracy anywhere in the world. The anti-Palestine witch hunt in the US is directly affecting many Indian students and academics, yet the Modi government keeps completely silent just as it silently accepted and shamelessly justified the humiliating deportation of Indian citizens dubbed illegal immigrants in America. This makes the Modi government very much complicit in the ongoing genocide in Gaza and elsewhere in Palestine. The Modi government and the Sangh brigade imitate the Zionist ideology of Israel and its model of state-led terrorism as a template for fascism in India. The question of solidarity with Palestine is therefore integrally connected with the agenda of developing anti-fascist resistance in India.
3. Ambedkar, Constitution, Legacy of the Freedom Movement and Communist Centenary: The derogatory remarks against Ambedkar made by Amit Shah in Parliament came out of the BJP's frustration and exasperation over their failure to appropriate Ambedkar and stop the popular campaign around the Constitution. The answer to this insult therefore lies in invoking the radical egalitarian legacy of Ambedkar with greater power and spreading the secular democratic spirit of the Preamble to the Constitution as widely and deeply as we can. Mohan Bhagwat's statement attributing the attainment of 'true independence' to the consecration of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya is another typical revelation of the Sangh's history and ideology in the mirror of India's freedom movement.
The Constitution emerged from the freedom movement and Communists played a key role in shaping the freedom movement and much of the secular democratic consciousness (or common sense) that found its reflection in the Constitution. The RSS remained antithetical to the entire trajectory and core agenda and spirit of the freedom movement. By bringing in the freedom movement we can connect the discourse around the Constitution with the anti-imperialist legacy of the freedom movement and the contrast between the communist contribution to the freedom movement and the building of modern India and the communal-capitulationist role of the RSS and other Hindutva forces. This is how we can observe the ongoing centenary of the organised communist movement in India by linking the present challenges with the historical context.
4. Campaign on key issues and some emerging concerns:
i. The Modi government wants to reintroduce the content of the repealed pro-corporate farm laws as a new policy of agricultural marketing. The four anti-worker labour codes are also all set to be implemented along with an intensified push for all-out privatisation, downsizing and casualization. The New Education Policy is having a huge disruptive and exclusionary effect for many students and Sanghi control over educational institutions, curriculum and campus environment is institutionalising ideological indoctrination, regimentation and a reign of fear and insecurity. There is a renewed scope for broad-based struggles involving farmers, workers and students and we must play an active and leading role in the process.
ii. The Modi government has announced its plan to make India 'Maoist-free' by March 2026. To achieve this goal, the government has launched Operation Kagar, which is a vicious war on Adivasis in Bastar and adjoining areas. Several hundred Adivasis including large numbers of women have reportedly been killed since the BJP's return to power in Chhattisgarh in December 2023 in extra-judicial 'encounters'. The CC discussed about organising a fact-finding mission to Chhattisgarh and boldly raise our voice against this mass killing of Adivasis and anti-Maoist witch hunt.
iii. The Waqf Board Amendment Bill has understandably created massive resentment within the Muslim community. The Waqf Board deals with almost the entire range of Muslim charitable land and religious and cultural institutions. The amendment will require all such land and institutions to be mandatorily registered and every dispute or litigation arising in the process will be decided by representatives of the state. Obviously, this will mean a huge blow to the identity, religious freedom and cultural autonomy of the Muslim community. The CC extended its fullest support and solidarity to the Muslim community in this battle to protect the community's rights and identity.
iv. The delimitation exercise due in 2026 has given rise to legitimate apprehensions in the southern states of further erosion in their federal rights and representation in the parliamentary arena. The southern states have raised a common voice by calling for fair delimitation and a freeze at the numbers till population growth in north India, currently much higher than states in the southern region, comes down and the country attains greater demographic stability. The concern is not confined to the southern states alone, most states and regions except UP, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are likely to lose in terms of scale of representation. The CC expressed its support for the southern states in their call for a fair delimitation and reaffirmed its commitment to joining them in the battle for a robust federal framework for adequate accommodation of India's geographical and cultural diversity.
v. UCC has already been enacted in Uttarakhand. Apart from targeting the cultural practices of Muslims and forcing them to accept other norms in the name of uniformity, UCC is emerging as a major threat to interfaith and intercaste marriages and live-in relationships between two consenting adults. It threatens to erode the constitutional liberties and rights of citizens and subject all citizens to wider state surveillance and majoritarian interference, intimidation and coercion. With the growing penetration of RSS and the conservative Manuvadi ideology in the judiciary we are witnessing a spate of anti-women judgements by various courts. At stake are many hard won women's rights and principles of gender justice. The women's movement will have to boldly combat the UCC design of majoritarian uniformity and uphold the principles of gender justice and equality in contrast to a coercive uniformity.
vi. Ahead of the crucial Bihar elections, the Sangh brigade is trying to deepen communal polarisation across the country. The serial targeting of mosques and frenzied vilification of Aurangzeb including the attempt to remove his tomb in Maharashtra signal yet another heightened phase of Islamophobic venom and violence.
