The CPM in Durgapur will on Friday resume, after a five-year gap, its annual convention to mark the day then Prime Minister and Congress leader Indira Gandhi had clamped Emergency on the country on June 25, 1975.

The decision to resume the convention on Emergency was taken at a meeting of the CPM’s West Burdwan district committee last week. A CPM leader said most leaders decided to hold a convention on the 46th anniversary of Emergency as the party felt the Narendra Modi government had imposed an “undeclared Emergency” on the country.

“To generate awareness among people on the dangers of Emergency, we will hold a mass convention at Khoyrasole (Durgapur) on June 25 (Friday),” said Pankaj Roy Sarkar, a CPM district secretariat member in West Burdwan. Around 250 people have been invited to the event to be held with strict adherence to Covid protocol.

CPM leaders in Durgapur said the convention was relevant, alleging Modi’s fascist mode of governance and chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s autocratic ways were harming democratic institutions.

On the five-year gap, some senior CPM leaders in Durgapur said the party’s electoral understanding with the Congress had nothing to do with it. However, a few others said the gap occurred to maintain cordial relations with its poll ally.