The Fifth All Sri Lanka Congress of the New Democratic Party took place in Colombo on the 25th and 26th of June 2010. The Congress resolved after thorough discussion that the New-Democratic Party be renamed as the New-Democratic Marxist-Leninist Party in consideration of the need for the name to reflect its Marxist Leninist ideological stand and the fact that capitalist parties exist in other countries with the name New Democratic Party. The Fifth All Sri Lanka Congress of the New-Democratic Marxist-Leninist Party (hitherto New-Democratic Party) declared self determination for the nationalities within a united Sri Lanka, new democratic revolution led by the working class and a socialist future as its political aims.

The Congress elected a fifteen-member Central Committee, with S.K. Senthivel as General Secretary, V. Mahendran as National Organiser, E. Thambiah as International Organiser, and S. Thevarajah as Treasurer.

Below is the text of the message of greetings sent by the General Secretary of CPI(ML) Liberation to the newly elected Central Committee:

Dear Comrades,

We hope the Fifth All Sri Lanka Congress of your party concluded successfully and take this opportunity to extend our warm internationalist greetings to the newly elected Central Committee.

You have rightly noted that following the military decimation of the LTTE, the chauvinist sections of Sinhala ruling classes have tightened their grip as has been indicated by the outcome of the Presidential and Parliamentary polls earlier this year. Such a fascist-chauvinistic stranglehold of the ruling classes must also imply a heightened assault on the living and working conditions and rights of the Sri Lankan people.

We hope your Congress has adequately dealt with this new juncture in Sri Lankan situation and formulated policies and tasks to advance the Marxist-Leninist movement by addressing the pressing concerns of all sections of the working people. The war crimes of the Rajapaksa regime can only be set right by the Sri Lankan people and we are sure the NDP will make every possible effort in this direction.

The CPI(ML) looks forward to closer ties with the New-Democratic Marxist-Leninist Party and the working people’s movement in Sri Lanka and reiterates its commitment to fight against imperialist interference and regional hegemonic designs and work for transforming South Asia into a bastion of people-to-people solidarity and united struggles against imperialist globalization.

With warm greetings of proletarian internationalist solidarity,

Dipankar Bhattacharya,

General Secretary, CPI(ML)(Liberation)