In 1992, then CPI(M) general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet and his CPI counterpart Indrajit Gupta decided that the two parties should work closely. A decision was taken to form State-level coordination committees comprising representatives of both the parties. And a circular directing the State units had to be on a common letterhead. This was pre-photoshop era. As a strapping 40-year-old aide of comrade Surjeet, the task fell on Sitaram Yechury to ensure that a common letterhead be fashioned. With some smart use of a photocopier machine, a letterhead with both party names emblazoned was created.
Mr Yechury, now the CPI(M) General Secretary, often recounts this story. Years later, the coordination committees are relegated to that circular alone.
Facing an existential crisis, the parties are once again talking about joining forces. Interestingly enough, Mr. Yechury and CPI General Secretary D. Raja who once worked as close aides of Surjeet and Gupta respectively are at the helm of the two parties.
Mr. Yechury sits at the party headquarters at AKG Bhawan and Mr. Raja is seated many kilometers away at Ajoy Bhawan. One headquarter is named after fiery comrade A.K. Gopalan from Kerala and the other, after Ajoy Kumar Ghosh, a Left luminary from West Bengal.
Littered with mementoes from a bygone era, decay hangs heavy in both the offices. From a high of 2004 general election, when the four Left parties together got 59 seats, 15 years later, in 2019, together both of them have only five members in the Lok Sabha. The Left is down to a single seat in Kerala, the only State where it's in power.
Once again, the dialogue has started between friends Mr Yechury and Mr. Raja to bring together the two parties. The CPI(M) separated from the CPI in 1964. They split on the position that each took on the Congress and subscription to the Communist Party of Soviet Union or Communist Party of China. Both the issues are absolutely irrelevant today.
“None of the issues that led to the split are relevant today. We have begun informal conversation on bringing the two parties together. Work has started on regular dialogue between all Left parties and better coordination,” Mr. Raja said.
In the last few weeks five Left parties — the CPI(M), CPI, CPI (ML), RSP and the AIFB have come together to speak on the Assam National Register for Citizens. They are also holding nationwide protests from October 10 to 16 on the current economic crisis. The party functionaries often quote the 2018 successful unification of the communist parties in Nepal. The line is if they can do it then why not us.
So far, however, other than lip service, no formal mechanism has been worked out. The issue has not been discussed at the party forums yet. Though both feel that merging resources, manpower and intellect of the two parties are essential if they are to stand up to BJP, the party bureaucracies come in the way. The power structures that have been established in both the units will resist any reunification. It's going to be a long and tiring journey.
