KANNUR: On an introspective mode after back-to-back electoral and political setbacks at the national level, the CPM has set in motion the rectification process. The failure in cashing in on people's agitations and converting them to mass agitations has been pointed out.
With its ever shrinking political space, the CPM feels it failed to effectively counter the Sangh Parivar's Hindutva ideology and propaganda. The organisational report presented at the 23rd party congress has been highly self critical for the leadership’s failure in implementing many decisions.
The party's membership has seen a major decline after the last party congress when the membership came down to 9.85 lakh in 2021 from 10.07 lakh in 2018.
"The Hindutva campaign is highly dangerous as it engulfs other sectors like socio-cultural spheres, and has been trying to replace historical facts with mythology and superstitions. However the CPM couldn’t effectively counter the spread of this ideology," said a top leader.
The party which looked at its structural and ideological failures in opposing Hindutva, observed that it should’ve run effective counter campaigns.
"While we say that scientific temper should be maintained and history is being replaced, we need to effectively campaign and communicate. That has not been done. Now the party is thinking about running effective campaigns through literature and other measures," he added.
Most delegates who spoke on the report cited urgent need of rectification measures. It was pointed out that many of the decisions taken at the last Party Congress were not implemented. The Politburo cited the pandemic as reason for the same.
However the delegates who spoke at the meeting were not happy with the explanation. They said it’s a grave lapse on the part of the central leadership and should be rectified without fail.
"The delegates however bought the explanation with a pinch of salt, as they pointed out that a few other historic struggles like the peasants and workers movements happened during this period. Some of them were of the opinion that the central leadership wasted the first two years. Had they attempted, there could've been results is how they saw it," said sources.
The politburo also identified areas for improvement. Weakness in grassroot level implementation too was pointed out. Many decisions taken at the top level are not being executed at the branch level due to lack of structural mechanism at the lower level. Many decisions remain only on paper.
The leadership's failure to effectively convert people’s struggles to major campaigns too was pointed out. The organisational report has pointed out the need to educate people from states, where the BJP is not a major force, about the threat posed by the Sangh Parivar.
Briefing the media, PB member Prakash Karat admitted that there are decisions which could have and should have been implemented, but which couldn’t implement due to different reasons.
"We couldn't implement many decisions taken during the last Party Congress. It’s due to many factors including those that are beyond our control. Now the focus is how to build up the party’s independent strength," he said.
KN Balagopal who opened the debate on Kerala was highly critical of the central leadership. He pointed out that despite its strength and concentration in Delhi, the central leadership failed to effectively intervene in national politics.
Other than frequent press notes and media conferences, nothing substantial was done. He also criticised the leadership for not taking enough measures to induct more youngsters through vibrant student political programmes.
Many other delegates too spoke on similar lines. The leadership will respond to the discussion on Sunday, after which the party will elect its new leadership including three new Central Committee and Politburo members.