Poll debacle indicative of CPI (M)’s declining influence: Prakash Karat

Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat took a critical viewpoint of his own party in its State Committee meeting held here on Saturday.

He said “the party’s performance in the general elections is indicative of the decline of its political influence.”

Mr. Karat further pointed out that in terms of attracting “the youth also, the party is lagging behind.”

He emphasised the need for bringing in a change in the “political strategy” of the CPI (M) in the back drop of the failure to increase its “individual strength.” He stressed the need to be “on alert about the activity of the RSS and communal forces in the State.”

As for the decline in the vote share of the CPI(M) and other Left parties, Mr. Karat pointed out that it had gone down everywhere in the country, apart from Kerala and Tripura. He expressed his apprehension over the decline of the party’s support base among the middle class and said that even among “labourers and poor farmers”, who were the traditional support base of the CPI (M), the party had not been able to achieve any progress.

“Apart from the three strongholds of the party (West Bengal, Tripura ,Kerala), the party has done comparatively well in constituencies that are reserved for tribals,” he added.

Mr. Karat pointed out that despite the fact that the CPI (M) intensified its campaign against the BJP, its effort in keeping the saffron party at bay did not yield much result due to its “limited reach in most of the States.”

He called for a change in the “viewpoint of the party and its mass organisations” since in the last two and a half decades there has been significant change in the socio-economic sphere and in “class views.” He said that nation-wide programmes will be taken in protest against the “attack on democracy and CPI(M) workers in West Bengal.”

Speaking on the BJP getting majority in the Lok Sabha, Mr. Karat said that it successfully used the anti-Congress mood to its advantage.

“On the one hand, it upheld Narendra Modi as a leader of development, and on the other the RSS embarked on an intense communal campaign,” he said, adding that the BJP has been able to establish itself as the “only alternative” of the Congress. He pointed out that this happened as there was no non-Congress secular alternative.”