Letting Nitish leave INDIA a mistake, Satheesan's image is gone: Baby
CPM General Secretary M A Baby believes Nitish Kumar leaving the INDIA bloc was a mistake, stating its failure to retain him cost them electoral success in 2024, though he sees youth uprisings and hopes for 2029.
CPM General Secretary M A Baby believes Nitish Kumar leaving the INDIA bloc was a mistake, stating its failure to retain him cost them electoral success in 2024, though he sees youth uprisings and hopes for 2029.
CPM General Secretary M A Baby believes Nitish Kumar leaving the INDIA bloc was a mistake, stating its failure to retain him cost them electoral success in 2024, though he sees youth uprisings and hopes for 2029.
CPM General Secretary M A Baby strongly feels that letting JDU leader Nitish Kumar leave the INDIA bloc in 2024 was a huge mistake. In a session titled 'The Real Left -- Who speaks for progressive politics in India today?' at the Manorama News Conclave on Saturday, he said the INDIA bloc failed to show the collective maturity to hold Nitish Kumar.
In January 2024, Nitish Kumar severed ties with the INDIA bloc and brokered an alliance with the BJP, three months ahead of the general elections. "It was a wasted opportunity. We should not have let him go. Otherwise the electoral course would have been different," said Baby. He, however, exuded optimism. "The recent Jantar Mantar protests and the loss of BJP in Bankipur are clear indications. There is an uprising among the youth against the BJP and the results will be clear in 2029. It should have happened in 2024, but it didn't".
On August 3, Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor won the bypoll in Bankipur in Bihar, a seat which the BJP had consistently won for three decades. He defeated BJP's Neeraj Kumar by a margin of 19,324 votes.
According to Baby, poll losses shall not be used to gauge a party's impact. "We admit mistakes have been made but loss in elections doesn't alone determine the influence of a party. CPM actively gets involved in people's issues and there is a unified agenda to relate to problems which affect the public. Recently, all the three left parties -- CPM, CPI and CPI(ML) met and stressed the need to work together," said Baby.
The CPM veteran also tackled questions on why party finds CPM dissidents T K Govindan and V Kunhikrishnan as betrayers. "The CPM reaches an understanding with other parties in states like Tamil Nadu, Bihar and Rajasthan as part of a political decision. But here in Kerala, when there is an opportunity to align with the left -- progressive ideals, switching to other ends is not justified," he said.
Baby said that growth of BJP and minority communalism is equally dangerous. "Here, the CPM faces resistance from the BJP and Congress. When we said BJP's lone account in Nemom would be closed, CPM's Sivankutty got that job done. CPM alone opposes BJP in Kerala. In Kannur, many of our comrades had sacrificed lives to curb growth of RSS," he said.
He dug into history to explain the party's changing stand towards the Congress. "In 1969, when the Syndicate Congress aligned towards the extreme-right, the Communist party supported the other faction. At the same time, CPM opposed Congress when Emergency was declared and constitutional rights were curtailed. Our stand towards Congress depends on what stand they take," said Baby.
When asked to review V D Satheesan's first 100 days in power, Baby was severe. "He came to power being hailed as the prince of political stands. What we saw in the past few months was how that image crumbled. People's hopes have been dashed," said Baby.