Time for introspection by Kerala CPI(M)

Compromise on political tactical line a setback for State leadership

The 22nd Party Congress of the CPI(M) that concluded in Hyderabad on Sunday will continue to rankle the State CPI(M) leadership for sometime, the Party Congress having gone against its firm resolve not to allow any compromise on the political tactical line of the party vis-a-vis Congress.

That the key sections of the draft political resolution were amended by the Party Congress is a setback that the party State leadership will find hard to live down and will have great difficulty to explain away.

From available information, those who had taken part in the discussions of the Party Congress, representing the State delegation, were unsparing of the party general secretary Sitaram Yechury's insistence on leaving enough space to have tactical positioning vis-a-vis the grand old party as and when necessary. At the end of the day, the CPI(M) proved that it was much more than its most powerful part.

Given the ground situation in Kerala, where the CPI(M) is directly pitted against the Congress, there was all possible justification for the stand taken by the Kerala unit of the party. Equally significant is the manner in which the issue was discussed threadbare by the Party Congress, something that should be the envy of parties that claim to be 'democratic.'

The way the dominant formulation and the so-called 'minority' position on the political tactical line (which subsequently turned out to be ‘the’ party position) were allowed full play during the deliberations went to show that the culture of debate is quite alive in the CPI(M). That this was largely missing in the deliberations of the party conferences in Kerala should be a matter of serious introspection though.

The Kerala unit of the party may not have succeeded in having things its way on the key political tactical questions, but that does not mean that its efforts to keep the party organisation agile and responsive to the emerging political situation in the country would not and could not have gone unacknowledged at the Party Congress, though such aspects received little media attention. The government led by the CPI(M) in Kerala has been successful in initiating several programmes that present at least tentative alternatives to the economic policy narrative of the Centre.

Its efforts to re-imagine in public health and education, its firm commitment to social welfare even in the face of a tough fiscal climate and the manner in which it has tried to reach out to sections that had always treated the Left with trepidation were all part of the documents and discussions, though not reported by the media.

The elevation of former Assembly Speaker K. Radhakrishnan to the party Central committee along with M.V. Govindan has in it a clear signal. Mr. Radhakrishnan, who had won wide appreciation as both SC/ST Development Minister in the 1996-2001 Nayanar Ministry and the Assembly Speaker, has risen to the higher rung of the party on the strength of his disciplined work.

Mr. Govindan's elevation was, in a sense, on anticipated lines, as he has been one of the key spokespersons of the party in Kerala. S. Ramachandran Pillai, who had expressed his desire to retire from the Polit Bureau, has been retained, reflecting perhaps also the importance of the part to the sum.