Former general secretary Prakash Karat and his backers wanted to snub general secretary Sitaram Yechury and possibly oust him from the top: ManoramaElected CPI’s general secretary for a third term, S Sudhakar Reddy was provoked when a reporter asked him about the party’s attitude towards the Congress. “Don’t you have anything else to ask. Haven’t we sorted out the differences?”
Reddy was suggesting that the CPM had finally accepted the CPI’s proposal. Leaderships of the CPI and the CPM have come closer after their party congress held at Kollam and Hyderabad. They were rather forced to sail together.
Yet the CPM cadres are left wondering what was all the brouhaha about. After all, the issue of cooperation with the Congress was relevant only when the elections approached. If some people thought that the early debates over the issue were just a part of the tug-of-war at the top echelons of the party, the scepticism was cemented by the party document.
“We consider as our main aim the defeat of the BJP and its allies. At the same time, we have to keep away from any coalition with the Congress. We have to adopt strategies to line up all secular democratic parties to defeat the BJP and its allies. This is not a strategy to keep equal distance from the BJP and the Congress. We cannot consider the two parties as equal evils. In states where the BJP and the Congress are locked in a direct fight, the party and the Left will contest in limited seats and campaign together to defeat the BJP. We do not have to campaign with the Congress or share dais with that party.”
The party line was put forward transparently and clearly 16 years ago in Hyderabad. The above quoted sentences are from the political-organisational report of the 17th party congress held from March 19 to March 21, 2002.
The strategy was formed after evaluating the political conditions that led to the re-election of the Vajpayee government in 1999. When the document was crystal clear on the proposed strategy, why did the party opt to reopen an uneasy battle front?
Why did the politburo members have to face questions about a potential split?
The answers are evident. Former general secretary Prakash Karat and his backers wanted to snub general secretary Sitaram Yechury and possibly oust him from the top. Yechury replied in the same coin to cement his position by letting his personal crisis blow up into a political one.
The anticlimax happened in Kollam. The CPI did not have any political questions to mull over. The party had already decided to align with the Congress in a national executive meeting a year ago. They even counselled the CPM that it was the best option available.
The party still had to deal with weak links in its organisation, but those were beyond the scope of the party congress.
Someone reading the party’s organisational report cannot be blamed if they ask who wrote it. Consider this: “There is no point in storing the organisational reports in the cupboards in the office. We should be implementing them right up to the local level. We are sacrificing so many things including family affairs. After all, we stand for revolution.”
The young blood in the party wanted a change of guard. The national secretariat was convened to discuss the demand and Reddy even admitted to his health issues. Yet the party leadership would not let him step down. Nobody objected when deputy general secretary Gurudas Dasgupta stepped down though.
The ageing Dasgupta was forced to assume the responsibilities of the chairman of the control commission. Interestingly, no one bothered to ask who would succeed Dasgupta as the deputy general secretary. D Raja and Atul Kumar Anjan were interested, but they kept mum.
Everybody nodded when Reddy said that the deputy general secretary could be picked later. The Kerala unit had already scripted the event. Raja was not in their good books
Perhaps, it is evident that the CPM is not the only party plagued by factionalism.
