Communist Party of India former general secretary and party’s draft programme chairman AB Bardhan on Saturday came down heavily on CPM for criticising CPI’s policies. The CPM has become outdated and is irrelevant in the present context, he said.
Speaking at the party’s two-day extended state council meeting on party draft programme here at the party office, Bardhan said the CPM has been criticising the CPI’s policies and programmes and even alleging that the party does not have a programme to take up public cause. The truth is that CPM’s policies are quite behind times and need to be revived for the party to survive in the present context, he said. The CPM is still living in illusion and is trying to implement policies which are not relevant to present times. The CPI has a party programme since its inception and has been successfully implementing it, he said. “The party has been changing its policies and programmes in accordance with the needs of the time,” he said.
Bardhan urged party workers to adopt a modified Communist ideology that suits India’s social system. “India is a complex country with lot of diversities and if we have to bring changes in the country, then we have to adopt such an ideology that suits all the sections of the society,” he said.
The socialism being practised in other parts of the world cannot be practise in India as the social structures of those countries are different from ours. “We have to adopt a unique path to succeed in India and the party is working on it,” he said.
The veteran Communist leader said though the party has been associating itself with many other like-minded parties on various public issues, still its core policies are purely based on Marxist-Leninist ideology. CPI has been working with many political parties on various issues, but that doesn’t mean we are diverting from our ideology or goal, he said.
He said the CPI is supporting separate Telangana cause, but that doesn’t mean it has been influenced by the policies of TRS or other parties. The CPI is a revolutionary party guided by Marxism-Leninism and fighting for the rights of the oppressed class, he said.
“The CPI is different from other parties. Unlike others, CPI doesn’t believe in grabbing power. Instead, it believes in involving all sections of the society in decision-making and nation-building,” he said. The capitalist path of development has resulted in distorted growth, accompanied by agrarian crisis, rising prices, unemployment and depleting wages, he observed.