Going into its 23rd party congress in Kannur from April 6, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] knows only too well that it has to pull out all the stops to rebuild and strengthen itself nationally.
“The party is cognizant of the fact that it has reached one of its lowest ebbs, with an erosion of its mass base in Tripura and West Bengal adding to its rout elsewhere. The only saving grace, though, is the consecutive second term won by the CPI(M)-led alliance in Kerala. But if we must expose the “manuvaadi” agenda of the Sangh Parivar and stop the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) juggernaut in its tracks, we must place a renewed emphasis on independent ideological campaigns,” said a top leader, confident of the party renewing itself in the days after the party congress.
The BJP, as the CPI(M) sees it, has been able to “weaponise everything that polarises” and make its ideology built around “an overarching Hindu identity that promotes exclusion, hatred and violence against others,” the ideology of a very large section of Indian society.
Fighting BJP
But the regional parties that fight the BJP electorally or fight them as lead partners in State governments are either ill-equipped or somehow not ready to take on the BJP ideologically. This, as a senior CPI(M) leader puts it, “makes it incumbent on the Left parties to expose the BJP ideology for what it is, as it goes against the interests of a vast majority of Indians – Dalits, women, Adivasis, OBCs [Other Backward Classes] and the working class”.
While this political line, not different from the one taken at the last party congress, would continue, the party would tactically work for a coming together of non-BJP regional parties on issues of mutual interest like the attack on federalism, to name one.
“Many parties that lead State governments such as the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Aam Aadmi Party, Telangana Rashtra Samithi and even the YSR Congress, which face the onslaught of the Centre, could come together to defend the federal structure of the Constitution. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin was asked to take the lead in this,” says a CPI(M) leader.
Caste equations
The CPI(M) is also likely to bet big on the struggle for a caste census which the Centre has vehemently opposed citing administrative difficulty and complexity.
With the Supreme Court last month striking down the reservation for the OBCs brought by the Maharashtra government in local bodies citing the absence of current data, this could be a rallying point for many parties, including the Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal.
While these would be tactical alignments around issues that are mutually agreed upon, the draft political line prescribes adoption of “appropriate tactics to maximise the pooling of anti-BJP votes” at the time of elections.
‘Congress irrelevant’
“The Congress has made itself irrelevant and is unlikely to figure majorly in the discussions apart from as just another non-BJP political party,” a leader pointed out.
While the success of the party in Kerala is feted at the national level, there could be concerns raised over the wave of protests lashing across the State against the proposed SilverLine semi-high-speed rail project and the Nava Keralam (New Kerala) document that moots private investment in the health and education sectors.
