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The All India People’s Resistance Forum (AIPRF)
held its third all-India Conference in Sangrur, Punjab, the land of historical
struggles against imperialism, on 27 and 28 May 2000.
The Conference began with the hoisting of the
(provisional) flag of the organisation by the General Secretary of the out-going
all-India Executive Committee and by paying homage to the martyrs who laid down
their lives fighting the imperialist forces and their agents in the country for
a free and just society. Several Cultural organisations like Praja Kala Mandali,
Abhivyakthi, Disa and others performed songs on imperialist exploitation and the
glorious struggles against it.
Revolutionary writer and popular cultural artist,
Gursharan Singh inaugurated the Conference on the morning of 27th May 2000, at
the Prem Sabha School Hall in Sangrur. More than 250 delegates from the states
of Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Maharashtra,
Haryana, Orissa and Punjab attended the 2-day Conference. Over 1500 people from
Punjab attended the inaugural session.
Prof. Randhir Singh, Prof. Hari Singh Taraq and
Gaddar also addressed the inaugural session.
In his inaugural address Gursharan Singh stressed
the important role of culture and cultural activists in the revolutionary
transformation of Indian society, which is the aim of the delegates. Artists
like him, he felt, could play an important role in inspiring the masses into
revolutionary action.
Prof. Randhir Singh, a noted Marxist, pointed out
that a clear theory was very necessary to guide the revolutionaries, as
"revolution does not come from oppression and poverty alone." Prof. Singh
said that it was very necessary to build the unity between different struggling
forces to defeat the destructive plans of the imperialists.
Gaddar, General Secretary of the All India League
for Revolutionary Culture presented a dramatic story of the struggles of the
people of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Dandakaranya through song and speech. He
described the brutal killing of revolutionaries in fake encounters and the
strong wave of resistance to atrocities.
A number of booklets on important aspects of the
Indian people’s movements were also released on the occasion of the Conference
viz. Nationality Question in India, Punjabi Nationality Question, on the WTO and
on the Criminal Law Amendment Act.
The inaugural session concluded with an impressive
rally in the streets of Sangrur, which turned into a sea of red flags and
revolutionary slogans against imperialism. Over 2000 people participated in the
rally.
The second session was addressed by the leaders of
fraternal organisations: Pishora Singh Sidhupur, President, BKU (Ekta); Kulbir
Singh, PMTU, Delhi; Sunita, Nari Mukthi Sanghatan, Bihar; Shankar Reddy from
Rytu Seva Samithi, AP; J V Subbaiah of the Rytu Cooli Porata Samithi, AP; E
Venkateswarlu of the Praja Kala Mandali, AP; Vidhyut Bhoumik of the AILRC, West
Bengal; Sunil of the AIRSF; Ranjan Kumar, of the MSKSP, Bihar; Mahamad Atik, of
the Delhi Labour Karigar Sanghtan; Geeta, of the DSU, Delhi; Manish Kumar, of
the Kranthikairi Lok Adhikar Sanghatan; Meghraj Mittal, of the Taraksheel
Society; Ashwini Tyagi of the Lok Sangram Manch, Dehradun; representatives of
the Kirti Mazdoor Union, Punjab Radical Students’ Union; Lok Sangram Morcha;
Akil Bbhatiya Nepali Ekta Samaj, and Amolak Singh, Amarjit Raju, Balwant Makhu,
Naram Dutt, Ranjit Singh, Hari Singh Taraq, Baru Satwarg and Harjinder Singh,
who deliverd fraternal messages. Among others, those who gave fraternal messages
were from the Andhra Pradesh Chaitanya Samakhya (APCMS), Andhra Pradesh Civil
Liberties Committee (APCLC), the Democratic Teachers Federation of Punjab and
Andhra Pradesh. All of them wished the success of the Conference and expressed
solidarity with the AIPRF.
The Conference Hall, was named after Shahid Bhagat
Singh, while the delegates’ residence was called Shahid Udham Singh Hall in
memory of the great heroes who fought the British imperialists showing a correct
way to fight for an independence struggle against the imperialist forces. The
AIPRF bookstall was named after martyr Naveen, a revolutionary student leader
from Delhi who laid down his life fighting the police forces in the Eastern hill
ranges in Andhra Pradesh recently.
Earlier, Conferences and general body meetings at
various state-levels and lower levels, and campaigns in the forms of wall
writing, postering and popularising the organisation among all democratic,
progressive forces and general people were completed. Delegates for the
all-India Conference were elected from all the local committees.
The Conference continued with the delegates’
sessions in the afternoon of May 27 and May 28th. The delegates deliberated on
the Programme and Constitution of the AIPRF, the Work Report of the 1994-2000
period and the perspective for the future.
The Conference stressed on the importance of the
anti-imperialist struggle. The Indian rulers have completely surrendered to the
imperialists especially to the USA. They have opened wide, the doors to the MNCs
in the sphere of agriculture and agro-based industry and allied activities like
dairy, poultry, vegetables and fruit processing units and floriculture, together
with the opening up of the industrial sector and the public sector, including
banking, insurance, etc.
G. N. Saibaba, General Secretary of the out-going
Executive Committee of the organisation said that the forum would contribute to
the building of a new democratic India. By providing a forum to the people’s
struggles, and the struggles of nationalities, dalits and religious minorities,
it would launch an all-India wide struggle against the anti-people policies of
the Indian ruling classes and state repression on peoples’ movements. According
to him, the building of a new, free of exploitation, democratic India is the
main objective of the forum.
During the two-day deliberations in the delegate
sessions of the Conference, the Programme and the Constitution of the
organisation were adopted. Also the Work Report and Perspective Paper prepared
by the Executive Committee were accepted. The Joint Secretary of the out-going
Executive Committee, Com A.P. Singh, who said that the main aim of the forum was
to build a co-ordinated struggle against the growing imperialist exploitation of
the country and to develop solidarity with the anti-feudal revolutionary peasant
movements and the nationality movements, presented the Programme and
Constitution. The forum would also fight against communalism, oppression of
dalits and women, and against the increasing degradation of the environment. He
stressed that the forum believes that the parliamentary system in India is
actually a sham democracy, and it believes that even the smallest reforms can
only be achieved by militant and resolute struggle.
Com Darshan Pal, the all-India President of the
out-going Executive Committee, presented the Perspective of AIPRF and said that
the AIPRF has to develop itself mainly as a platform for anti-imperialist and
anti-state struggles. The document also contains the organisational perspective
and some guidelines regarding the forms of struggle.
The Work Report (1994-1999) was presented by the
Com G.N. Saibaba, General Secretary of the out-going Executive Committee of the
Forum. It outlined the activities of the forum in building the anti-imperialist
struggles and in strengthening solidarity with the revolutionary peasant
movements and nationality movements and reviewed the strengths and weaknesses in
the functioning of the organisation. He said that the AIPRF would contribute to
the building of a new democratic India by way of building a united struggle
against imperialist exploitation of our country. By providing a platform to
unite the different streams of the people’s movements in the country, whether
the revolutionary peasant movements, the nationality movements or the movements
of the workers, dalits, women, religious minorities and other oppressed
sections, it will launch a country-wide struggle against the anti-people
policies of the Indian ruling classes and against state repression.
The Third All India Conference concluded
successfully on the night of 28th May, resolving to intensify the struggle
against the growing imperialist exploitation of the country and the anti-people
policies of the central and state governments. The Conference also condemned the
decision of the Punjab government to allow the import of milk and milk products
of a Danish MNC, as this would affect the small and medium milk producers of the
state.
The Conference also resolved to take a campaign
against the intensifying repression on the revolutionary peasant movements of
A.P. - Dandakaranya - Bihar and the nationality movements like Kashmir and the
North-East where thousands have been killed in fake encounters in the last few
years. It condemned the proposal of the central government to impose a ban on
the CPI (ML)(People’s War) and other revolutionary mass organisations, and the
repression being unleashed by the police on the activists of the AIPRF in A.P.
The Conference also passed resolutions : condemning
the rising wave of communalism and the attacks on Christians and Muslims
throughout the country, which are being carried out by the Hindu communalist
forces with the backing of the state; opposing any intervention by the Indian
state in the conflict in Sri Lanka and extending support to the struggle of the
people for a Tamil Eelam; against the imperialist backed development policies
which have led to a severe drought situation in many parts of the country;
opposing the moves by the BJP government to review the Constitution; and in
support of the revolutionary peasant struggles in Nepal and other parts of the
world.
The
Conference then ended after electing a new all-India Executive Committee of the
AIPRF.
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