AIALA’s 5th national conference was held in Bhubaneshwar on 3-4 April 2015, and ended with a clarion call to intensify movements against corporate-communal offensives and for the assertion of the rights of the rural people. The conference started with an impressive rally; cultural troupes from Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar and their protest songs and dances were a point of attraction in the rally. Participants from different states shared their experiences of the ongoing assault on their land and livelihoods. They condemned the moves of the Modi government to snatch lands from the poor, and to curtail the social security of deprived social groups. They also condemned the inadequate provisions of the current Food Security Act and the cuts in MNREGA.
Addressing the opening session of the conference, CPI(ML) General Secretary Comrade Dipankar Bhattacharya said that concerted and intensified efforts were needed to build a strong resistance against the onslaughts of the Modi government. He strongly pointed that all rights of the toiling peasants and the rural poor are being snatched by this government that had come to power raising the slogan of ‘good days’. He called upon all the participants to strengthen the 100 days’ campaign started under the banner of the AIPF on ‘land rights and labour rights’. He also emphasized the need to use the Gram Sabhas and the Panchayats, and the need to convert them into platforms of struggle by not letting them pass into the hands of brokers of the ruling class and feudal landlords. He added that India in present times was witnessing another era of ‘Company Raj’ and the need of the hour was another resolute and intense struggle in order to reclaim democracy.
Addressing the conference, CPI(ML) Politburo member Comrade Ramji Rai said that the ‘loot’ by the corporate driven government of the day was being facilitated by spreading widespread lies in order to justify the loot. He emphasized that rural poor must come together to not just wage an intense battle to defend their lands against forceful land grab, but also to carry forward the agenda of land reforms and redistribution, that has remained incomplete even after several decades of independence. The conference decided to strengthen the aforementioned 100 days land rights and labour rights campaign of AIPF. Towards this end, AIALA will organize block level demonstrations throughout the country on 16 April 2015. It was also mentioned that the campaign was not restricted to the agricultural labourers but rural poor in general who were forced to find other jobs given the agricultural crisis in rural India.
In this phase of corporate takeover, the conference identified the dire need to develop the rural poor as a conscious political class. The conference focused attention on the growing onslaughts on dalits, tribals, minorities and women. The conference recognized that in several of the resistances being waged in the country today, women have been seen as playing a crucial role. Referring to the massive protest by midday meal workers in Patna, where the majority of participants had been women, the conference emphasized the urgent need to develop the women who were at the forefront of several struggles as cadres and leaders.
Considering the changing scenario of rural India, the name of AIALA was changed and it was renamed as the All India Agricultural and Rural Labour Association (AIARLA). Henceforth, AIARLA will be the common platform of all rural poor and workers of all kinds to assert the rights of the entire rural toiling community.
The conference elected 201 national council members and 61 national executive members. Veteran CPI(ML) leader comrade Kshitish Biswal was elected national honorary President and comrades Rameshwar Prasad and Dhirendra Jha were elected as President and Secretary respectively. The conference saw the participation of more than 800 delegates and observers from 18 States. The membership of AIALA was recorded to be 18 lakh at the time of the conference. The conference was attended by several veteran leaders of the communist movement in Odisha and leaders of workers’ and peasants’ movements. They were also felicitated by the reception committee.
The conference collectively resolved to increase the membership of the organization, to develop firm organizational structures at the Panchayat and block levels, to work towards more collective, sustained and intense movements, as was the need of the current times and make the question of land, livelihood and rights the central political questions of the day.
