13-07-2025
CPI Thrissur district meet concludes; K.G. Sivanandan new district secretary
A four-day Communist Party of India (CPI) district conference came to a close in Irinjalakuda on Sunday. K.G. Sivanandan has been elected as the new district secretary. The announcement was made by CPI State secretary Binoy Viswam while addressing the elected representatives at the conference.
A 57-member district council and 50 representatives to the upcoming CPI State conference were also elected during the meet.
The district conference has passed a resolution demanding the reinstatement of the Planning Commission, an institution once crucial to country's balanced development planning, and urged the Centre to uphold its constitutional responsibilities in maintaining healthy Union-State relations.
Centre-State relations
The resolution alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led administration is deliberately weakening the Centre-State relations and centralising power as part of a larger Sangh Parivar agenda. The discontinuation of the Planning Commission, a body that once played a key advisory role in strategising national development and welfare programmes, was described as a politically motivated move, especially targeted at States where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has little political footing.
By replacing the Commission with NITI Aayog and simultaneously denying financial aid to States like Kerala, the Centre is allegedly crippling progressive development models, the party stated.
Despite being consistently ranked at the top in indicators like health, education, and social welfare, even in the NITI Aayog's own reports, Kerala is being financially squeezed by the Centre, the resolution claimed. The CPI pointed out that the State has witnessed a shortfall of ₹2,942.29 crore in Central revenue share between 2023 and January 2025 . The 15th Finance Commission's recommendations are being ignored and the ₹12,000 crore annual GST compensation Kerala was entitled to has been discontinued, the conference said.
Cultural complex
The meet demanded a cultural heritage complex in Thrissur. The resolution pointed out that Thrissur has, for more than half a century, been home to the State's most prestigious official cultural institutions, including the Kerala Sahitya Akademi, Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi, and Lalithakala Akademi, Kerala Kalamandalam and Unnayi Warrier Smaraka Kalanilayam.
The district's contribution extends beyond the arts. It is etched into the social and political fabric of modern Kerala through landmark struggles like the Guruvayur Satyagraha, the Kuttan Kulam protest for social justice, the Veloor Manimalarkavu women's liberation movement, the Pariyaram farmers' agitation, and labour movements in Anthikad and Amballur.
Thrissur was also the land of action of visionary leaders like E.M.S. Namboodiripad and C. Achutha Menon. In light of this profound cultural, literary, artistic, political, and social heritage, the CPI district conference has urged the Kerala government to establish a comprehensive cultural heritage complex here.
