Kolkata: State secretary of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and its politburo member Surjya Kanta Mishra has said that the theory of maintaining equal distance from the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party “does not exist.” He was speaking on Wednesday in 51st anniversary of party’s Bengali organ Ganasakti .
“There is a campaign that the CPI-M believes in maintaining an equal distance [from the Congress and BJP]. But we don’t discuss that in either Delhi or Kolkata. It does not exist. There is no debate about it,” said Mr. Mishra. He, however, said that they should form a larger platform to fight forces like the Trinamool Congress and BJP.
The comment of Mr. Mishra assumes significance as it challenges CPI-M’s Political-Tactical report, adopted in 21st Congress in Visakhapatnam in 2015. The report noted that the “main direction” of CPI-M’s “attack should be against the BJP when it is in power but this cannot mean having an electoral understanding with the Congress”, indicating that the party is not too keen to form any electoral alliance with the Congress. However, they did so in 2016 Assembly poll in Bengal. But the alliance did not help the Congress or CPI-M. As a result, the CPI-M started distancing itself from the Congress and nominated candidates unilaterally in the recent by-polls.
But then Mr. Mishra’s comment – only months before 22nd party Congress – has fuelled new speculation. “Clearly he meant that Congress is a much lesser evil at a time when the BJP is fast taking a fascist turn and we can see that every day. I think, in the next party Congress, we will be able to make it more clear [that] we should work more actively with other parties, including the Congress,” a state committee member of the CPI-M told The Hindu .
However, the Bengal Congress is apprehensive about Mr. Mishra’s statement. “They (the CPI-M) keep changing tracks. They made an alliance and then went into a debate over the alliance and finally put up candidates without talking to us in the recent Sabang bypoll, resulting in a 15% jump in the vote share of the Trinamool Congress and BJP. They repeated the plan for the forthcoming Assembly and Parliament by-polls in February 2018. We are disappointed,” said a senior Congress leader.
