‘Defeat fascism’: Left party’s national conference at Mansa from today

The country is witnessing rise in fascism under Modi government, which is posing a serious threat to democracy in India. Communal powers are trying to divide the nation. DEEPANKAR BHATTACHARYA, general secretary, CPI (ML) Liberation

than 1,400 delegates from various states of India and some from abroad were reported to have reached Mansa on Friday to participate in the tenth national conference of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation that will begin on Saturday and last five days.

The occasion was marked by inauguration of statues of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev on their martyrdom anniversary, by party general secretary Deepankar Bhattacharya. “The party has spent more than Rs 4 lakh on theses statues, and this is a reply to vandalising of Lenin’s statue in Tripura by BJP men,” said senior party leader Sukhdarshan Natt. The statue of Vladimir Lenin in Tripura was toppled after the BJP wrested power from the Left Front led by the CPI (M) there some weeks ago. “If BJP thinks that it can terrorise rivals by vandalising statues, then it is wrong,” Bhattacharya said.

Addressing a rally, he said, “The slogan of this conference is: ‘Defeat fascism’. The country is witnessing rise in fascism in the Narendra Modi government’s regime, which is posing a serious threat to democracy in India. Communal powers are trying to divide the nation. The people will fight this fascism.” He also commented on Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s apology to Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia to settle a defamation case: “Kejriwal has played with sentiments of the people.”

At the inauguration of statues, AAP’s local MLA Najar Singh Manshahia and Congress leader Mangat Rai Bansal were present too. Party leader Bhagwant Singh Smao said, “We had invited local leaders from all parties.”

Meanwhile, about the conference, the party’s polit bureau member Prabhat K Chaudhary said, “This is the first time that we are holding the conference in Punjab. On Saturday, there will be an open house session in which delegates of all leftist parties will take part.” Party leaders said visa to delegates from Pakistan was denied.