The Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has applauded Pinarayi Vijayan-led Kerala government’s stand on the Sabarimala issue in spite of its near obliteration in the Lok Sabha poll in the State, where the party managed to win only one of the 20 seats.
The three-day meeting of the Central Committee was held to dissect the party’s worst ever Lok Sabha poll performance. Sources said no one within the party had been held responsible and no heads would roll for now.
SC verdict
“The Central Committee has applauded the party’s stand on the Sabarimala controversy and concluded that the Kerala government was right in implementing the Supreme Court verdict allowing entry of women to the Sabarimala shrine, against the popular sentiment,” one of the CC members told The Hindu .
Though the party conceded that it failed to counter the propaganda of both the Congress and the BJP on the issue in time, which meant that a large chunk of Hindu votes that traditionally the party got stayed away. “A serious course correction is required which means that the party will have to have a mass outreach programme to speak to the devotees to clear the air on party’s stand on the issue,” another member from Kerala said.
Achuthanandan’s letter
Former Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanadan’s letter was read out at the meeting. According to sources, he said that in Kerala “individualism” has trumped over the party programme and there is a serious lack of introspection.
A similar mass outreach will be launched in Tripura and West Bengal too.
Kolkata plenum
Following the 2014 Lok Sabha poll in which the CPI(M) won nine seats, a plenum was held in Kolkata where a voluminous report was released to bring changes at both micro and macro levels in the party’s machinery and functioning. The CC has asked all State units to submit a report in three months on progress made in implementing the road map suggested in the plenum.
Once the reports are ready, the party is likely to convene an extended central committee or another plenum session to lay the ground work for extensive overhaul. Sources indicated that it is during this exercise that there will be a reshuffle in the party ranks.
