CHENNAI: The Communist Party of India (CPI)’s Tamil Nadu Council on Friday celebrated the centenary of the formation of the party and the 101st birthday of R Nallakannu, a veteran leader of the party in the state.
The CPI was founded on December 26, 1925, in Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh. Significantly, that inaugural conference was presided over by Singaravelar, pioneer of the communist movement in South India.
CPI leaders who spoke at the meeting at party headquarters in Chennai on Friday recalled the sacrifices made by leaders, including R Nallakannu, Ameer Haider Khan, and KTK Thangamani.
The leaders said the CPI raised the clarion call for complete freedom and achieved a momentous victory in that struggle. In India, which has attained political freedom, the CPI has continued its fight for social and economic liberation, they said.
N Periyasamy, deputy secretary, CPI’s State Council, said communal forces, with the backing of large corporate entities, have seized political power in India. “On the occasion of this centenary celebration, I welcome all those who have gathered here to take a pledge to transfer that political power to the hands of the working people and, within a defined period, to capture and exercise that power to establish the rule of the working class in this country,” he said.
At the function, 80 senior communist leaders above the age of 75 from the districts of Chennai, Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu and Tiruvallur were honoured with mementoes. Earlier, CPI cadre took out a procession from the Ma Po Si statue in Thiyagaraya Nagar to the party’s state headquarters. M Veerapandiyan, state secretary, who presided over the celebrations, said a massive conference will be organised in Chennai on February 7 to commemorate the CPI’s completion of 100 years.