THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Apparently taking lessons from its “past mistakes and failures”, the CPM is up for a major policy shift, allowing its cadre to practice religious rituals and visit temples and other places of worship. It doesn’t stop there. The party members are also encouraged to take the reins of temple management.
TNIE had, on June 21, reported that the CPM would take a more liberal stance on matters of faith and beliefs.
The three-day state-level leadership summit of the CPM which concluded in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday decided to reverse some of the key resolutions approved by the party’s Palakkad plenum in 2013.
The plenum had restrained party leaders and cadres from performing religious rituals and going to temples. It had also banned party members from being part of temple committees. The decision that “party members should not conduct rituals like ‘Ganapathi homam’ as part of housewarming ceremony” had triggered a controversy then.
The 2024 Lok Sabha election debacle had a catalytic effect on the CPM’s major policy shift.
During the review of the election results and analysis of the voting pattern, it dawned on the leadership that the rigid stand on matters of faith had cost the party dearly. There was a significant swing in the Hindu votes to the BJP which was detrimental to the CPM. The cracks that appeared in its citadels in Malabar sounded the alarm bells for the party.
The CPM has assessed that the Sangh Parivar has tightened its grip over the believers through its closely knitted networks in temples. When the CPM cadre vacated their positions in temple management committees, it was the Sangh Parivar activists who took over.
The RSS’ influence on matters of faith, temple rituals and believers is the main reason for the right-wing leanings in society, the party state committee felt. And it has decided to work among the devotees, aiming to “corner the communalists from true faithful”.