KOLKATA: With a view to making the party more attractive to younger generation, the Bengal CPI (M) has decided to fix an age ceiling to be inducted into the party’s state, district and area committees.
During a two-day state committee meeting in presence of the party’s general secretary Sitaram Yechuri, a draft was prepared proposing no one above the age of 60 will be inducted into the party’s state committee and those, who are already in the committee, will be axed once they turn 72.
It was also proposed that young faces be inducted into the lower rungs of the party as much as possible.
“The draft also proposed no one above 70 will be in the district committees. In the area committee, the age cap will be 65,” said a CPI(M) state committee member.
The proposal comes in the wake of the party’s disastrous performance in the recent Assembly elections. The CPI (M), which ruled the state for 34 years till 2011, failed to bag even a single seat in the election.
The CPI (M)’s hierarchy, from the area and district committees to the state-level committee, is dominated by veterans with little youth representation.
In his speech, Yechuri hinted that the party will favour inducting young faces into the committees. “We became members of different committees when we were young. We will have to pave the way for the young generation,” he said.
If the draft proposal gets the final approval, veteran CPI (M) leaders like the party’s state secretary Suryakanta Mishra and Left Front chairman Biman Bose will have to step down. The party already decided to cap the age ceiling for its central committee members.
There was a clear indication ahead of the recent Assembly elections that the CPI(M) wants to infuse youthful energy into the party as nearly a dozen young candidates, including two research scholars from JNU, were fielded against TMC and BJP candidates in high-profile constituencies.