MADURAI: Former Kerala minister M A Baby, who was elected as the CPM general secretary at the 24th party congress here on Sunday, admitted that there had been a decline in the party’s strength and said every CPM member needed to come together to strengthen it.
“There has been some decline in our strength which we don’t want to conceal. Only when we accept the reality, recognise the reality, and search for the reasons as to why we are faced with this decline, will we be able to undertake a course correction. We are in the process of not only doing all that is necessary to strengthen the party but also build Left unity,” he said.
“There is a slight setback in West Bengal and other parts of the country as well. But CPM is always in the forefront of addressing the people’s issues. Kerala has created history with a continuous communist party-led government in the state. The party congress understands the huge responsibility before us. We did introspection and self-critical analysis to reach out to the people,” he said.
The CPM has decided to support the countrywide strike called by trade unions on April 20 against the labour codes passed by the centre. Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan accused the BJP of trying to wipe out diversity, step by step. “Muslims and Christians come together under the same banner as religious minorities.
To break this unity, first the Muslims are sidelined and isolated from the Christians. Then Christians are turned against Muslims. All this is part of a devious design. The Waqf issue is a weapon to effectively carry out the plans of the Sangh Parivar and BJP,” he said.
Central committee member K Balakrishnan pointed out the rise in honour killings, sexual harassments against women and children, and crimes, and he appealed to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin to make efforts to rid the state of these problems.
Politburo member Brinda Karat, state president P Shanmugam, Madurai MP S Venkatesan were present.