The central committee meeting of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) that ended on Wednesday has made a “unified understanding” of the political-tactical line and a discussion on various formulations within the party forum is nothing “unnatural”, said general secretary Prakash Karat.
The four-day meeting has proposed changes to the draft prepared by the Polit Bureau, based on a note from Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury.
The Polit Bureau draft had blamed the party’s tactical line that guided its engagement with other parties for its diminishing fortunes in recent years. Mr. Yechury argued that the method of implementation, not the tactical line itself, was to blame.
“The discussion in the central committee was about the tactics that we followed since liberalisation. Overall, our political line has been correct. It was against the Congress at some point, and against the BJP at some other. The 1996 United Front experiment was to stop the BJP,” Mr. Karat said.
Mr. Karat said the two shortcomings identified during the discussions were the party’s failure to gain its own strength at the national level and its inability to build a credible Left alternative at the Centre as envisaged.
He said there was no question of blaming the tactical line as it had “various positive aspects.” “That line has helped us in various ways.”
The new line, under discussion now, and to be adopted by the Party Congress in April 2015, will set the course for the next three years. Mr. Karat said countering the right-wing offensive of the Narendra Modi government in economic policies and the activities of Hindutva communal elements would be the thrust of the new line.
