A larger consensus has emerged at the three-day Central Committee (CC) meeting of the CPI(M) to continue with the 2018 political line of the party — cooperating with the Congress and other secular parties to counter the “exponential increase in danger” posed by the BJP, especially after its second consecutive victory in the 2019 general elections.
And for the first time, the Kerala unit of the party, which is usually strident about not co-operating with the Congress, has also appeared as a “mixed bag” instead of a monolith. Informed sources said that a few of the Kerala delegates contended that the CPI(M)’s cooperation with the Congress in West Bengal only enhanced the party’s image, underlining its sincerity in contesting the BJP. “There has been a significant shift of minority voters in favour of the CPI(M) in Kerala. Many of them felt greater confidence in the party because even though it was fighting the Congress in the State, it readily cooperated with them in West Bengal in a bid to stall the BJP,” one of the CC members said.
The draft outline debated at the CC will be sent to each of the party members and put in public domain by January, ahead of the party congress in April next year in Kannur. Each party member has the right to send in amendments to the political resolution which will be eventually adopted at the congress.
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At the 22nd party congress held in Hyderabad in April 2018, the CPI(M) had taken a call that the Congress and the BJP could not be treated as equal threat. The party had agreed to rally all “secular and democratic forces.” It had also agreed to have an understanding with all “secular opposition parties”, including the Congress, inside and outside the Parliament for a broader mobilisation of people. But in all this there was a caveat that there can be no political alliance with the Congress.
Though a large section of the CC had opposed this line, it was cleared only after majority support from the party congress. The overall consensus on continuing broadly with the 2018 line could mean another term for general secretary Sitaram Yechury.
Answering repeated questions at a press conference in Delhi about the political resolution and the party’s stand in relation to the Congress, Mr. Yechury said the political resolution was not only about the elections or the party’s stand on the Congress.
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Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, in an article in the party magazine Chintha , had said the Congress could no longer be the fulcrum of the opposition against the BJP. When asked for his views on this, Mr. Yechury said the alternative for the BJP had to come from the people. “You and I cannot sit back and decide on who could be the alternative to the BJP,” he said, adding that in the past coalitions had emerged after the elections.
“I have full faith in the people of this country. Before every election there will be a third front or a fourth front. These things are part of the national flow in Indian politics, but it will crystallise into an anti-BJP focus and that crystallisation will take place as part of the process,” he added. There was a large scale dissatisfaction with the BJP because of its failure in administration on multiple fronts, Mr. Yechury said.