Thrissur: Thekkinkad Maidan in the heart of the city turned a red sea on Sunday afternoon with thousands of CPM workers carrying red flags thronging for the conclusion of 22nd state conference. Clad in red clothes 25,000 volunteers including 10,000 women marched to the meeting place after camping in four different locations before the public meet commenced. State secretariat member Baby John delivered the welcome speech. State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan presided over the meeting which was inaugurated by general secretary Sitaram Yechury.
“The state conference was held as a run-up to the national congress to be held in Hyderabad in April, which will chalk out the latest policies and strategies of the party to end the exploitation of poor and the working class by the capitalist and those in power. Defeating of the BJP government in power at the centre is the primary objective for our march towards socialism and create a better India,” he said. He said that it would be achieved by unifying the democratic forces and not by having an electoral alliance with the Congress.
“Congress has the same policies as that of BJP. CPM national congress will resolutely workout a clear-cut plan on poll strategies to be employed to maximise anti-BJP votes. At present, 73 percent of the wealth created is owned by the one percent of the population,” he noted. He further said that the Modi government is working as a middleman for the corrupt corporate houses. The government which is unwilling to write off Rs 80,000 crore farm loans had informed the Parliament that loans worth Rs 2.4 lakh crore to corporates had turned NPAs of public sector banks. Politburo members Prakash Karat, S Ramachandran Pillai, Pinarayi Vijayan, M.A. Baby and central committee members V.S. Achuthanandan, E.P. Jayarajan, K.K. Shailaja, A. Vijayaraghavan among other took part.
