In what is being termed as a setback to the general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Sitaram Yechury, the Central Committee, the party's highest decision-making body, considered and voted only in favour of the Polit Bureau's resolution rather than his proposition on the tactical line that the party must adopt for the 2019 general elections against the dominant Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Mr. Yechury sought to underline the fact that the BJP can only be defeated if there is political understanding among like-minded secular forces, including the Congress. His predecessor, Prakash Karat, who endorsed the alternative line, agreed that the BJP is the main adversary but disagreed on the means of opposing it. The debate in the party recently has focussed on whether the present regime is fascist. But boiled down, the conundrum is whether to forge a national pre- or post-poll alliance with the Congress, if an opportunity arose for an alternative to a BJP-led government.
The CPI(M) has been relegated to a region-specific force today. It is strongest in Kerala and Tripura where it is in power and where, at least till the upcoming elections in Tripura, the principal opposition is the Congress. Notwithstanding the rise of the BJP as a political force in these States, the ideological and political policies that delineate the CPI(M) are in contrast to the Congress’ policies. It is inconceivable for the CPI(M) to have a pre-poll electoral alliance with the Congress in these States, which is why the opposition to Mr. Yechury’s positions was primarily concentrated there.
It is only in West Bengal where an alliance with the Congress is seen as sine qua non. This is partly because of the rise and consolidation of the Trinamool Congress as the pre-eminent party in the State, by displacing the CPI(M) by capturing some of its support base, and also because the BJP has emerged as the principal opposition in the State. The CPI(M)’s leadership in Bengal sees the alliance with the Congress as a way to increase its diminished electoral support. But this omits the fact that the CPI(M) has shown no initiative in taking on the Trinamool. This is evidenced in the lack of political campaigns in rural Bengal where the fall in the CPI(M)’s support has been the most precipitous. In other States, the CPI(M) is largely irrelevant and both the resolutions agree on the tactics that will maximise returns for forces ranged against the BJP.
The CPI(M) and other Left parties are at a low. Their return to relevance is incumbent on their independent mobilisation by appealing to those disenchanted with the BJP’s rule on the basis of their progressive vision (which includes the marginalised and the minorities in their coalition), and their support for employment-generating and socially secure welfare and growth policies. Talk of an alliance is meaningless without any effort by the leadership to rev up the CPI(M)’s cadres to begin campaigns and movements in places where the Left parties are both weak or strong. This will pave the way for a broader understanding with other like-minded forces before the 2019 elections.
