 Kanur, a coastal city in India's southernmost state Kerala, is hosting the 23rd Party Congress of India's largest Communist Party, CPIM, or the Communist Party of India, Marxist. The Party Congress, which began on 6th April with a participation of over 800 delegates from across the country, will go on till the 10th and elect the party leadership for the next few years. The All India Congress is a culmination of a month's long process, with the smallest units of the party elect their leadership and send delegates to conferences at a higher level. In the Congress, the party will formulate strategies on combating the religious polarization unleashed by the far right-wing Bhatia Janta Party government. It will also seek to intensify the struggle against the pro-corporate policies of the establishment, which have seen the few benefit at the cost of India's vast majority. With over a million members, the CPIM rules one state and has elected members of legislature in eight of the states. The party was founded in 1964 after a split from the Communist Party of India. The Communist movement in India has a long history of fighting against British colonialism as well as feudalism and the country's capitalist sector, which was closely associated with feudal elements. In many states, communist countries kept the flag of struggle flying high despite repression. The CPIM has been in power in the states of Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura, where its governments have been recognized for achievements in the areas of land reform, education, health and grassroots democracy. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the communist government in Kerala gained global acclaim for its people-centric and participative approach to tackling the pandemic. The CPIM and its associated organizations have also been an integral part in historic labor strikes, the great pharmacist movements of the past decade and battles to preserve the secular fabric of the country. The party, in its draft political resolution, laid out a plan to overcome the current crisis caused by the ruling far-right dispensation as well as fight for people's rights. This includes a call by the party to be in the forefront to mobilize the widest sections of people against the aggressive pursuit of neoliberal policies, the outright loot of our national assets, large-scale privatization of the public sector, public utilities and mineral resources. The party will also strengthen campaigns highlighting socialism as the only real alternative to capitalism, as well as rouse anti-imperialist consciousness among the Indian people in defense of national and economic sovereignty. Dear comrades and friends, for more than four years since the last party congress, or during these four years, it was exactly in April 2018 that we last met, for more than two of these four years, the world has been plagued including India by the COVID pandemic. This has wreaked havoc, disrupting the lives of millions of people. And in India, the top ten people, ten individuals during the course of the pandemic have grown their wealth to hold 57% of our country's wealth, as opposed to the share of the bottom 50% of our people who actually have a share of only 13% of the wealth. This is predatory capitalism at its worst that we are seeing. Now in this quest to control the government so that these predatory policies can be followed, the market political rightward shift is taking place in every country. This rightward shift in politics is to ensure governments that will promote neoliberal policies, and at the same time disrupt the growing unity of the working people in struggles against this double whammy attack of the pandemic and the economic recession. And this disruption, the political right seeks through appealing to emotional passions, fostering divisive appeals, promoting racism, xenophobia, religious sectarianism, fundamentalism, parochialism, and in the Indian context, communalism. This rightward shift is to sustain this neoliberal order at the same time to ensure that the unity of the working people in struggles does not reach levels where it can threaten the rule of capital itself. And that has to be prevented. This political rightward shift is the answer of the ruling classes. But this is being resisted. You have countervailing forces that have actually resisted and advanced. And the most classic case, inspiring case, is that in Latin America, where you find in many countries the left democratic and progressive forces, a combination of them electorally defeating the political right and forming the governments there.