CPI(M) accused of sidelining Dalits

January 10, 2015 12:00 am | Updated 05:55 am IST - KOLLAM

: Kerala Dalit Federation State president P. Ramabhadran has accused the Communist Party of India (Marxist) of attempts to eliminate members of the Dalit communities from the party set-up.

He said the trend had been noticed in the four districts where the district-level party conferences had concluded.

Mr. Ramabhadran said not even 1 per cent of members in the newly constituted area and local committees of CPI(M) were from the Dalit communities.

28 per cent of members

In Pathanamthitta district, Dalits constituted over 28 per cent of the CPI(M) membership.

But in the newly constituted 32-member district committee of the party, there was only one member from the Dalit community.

The Dalit communities had no representation among the 20 members from the district selected as delegates to the party State conference.

For the past six years, there was no representation of the Dalit community in the party’s secretariat in the district, Mr. Ramabhadran said.

New trend

He said the new trend in the CPI(M) was to keep members of the Dalit communities in feeder organisations such as the Kerala State Karshaka Thozhilali Union and the Pattikajathi Kshema Samithy.

“But the fact is that even now the majority of those taking part in CPI(M) meetings and agitations are from the Dalit communities,” he said.

Call for protest

He called upon the Dalit sections in the CPI(M) and others in that party who are genuinely interested in the progress of such sections to come forward and strongly protest against this trend being imposed by a section of the leadership in the party.

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