KANNUR: Unending hopes of a revolutionary era reflected in their eyes, as they sang in sloganeering fashion, wholly immersed in the vibrant beat. The rhythmic and synchronised singing of “We shall overcome, We shall overcome, We shall overcome one day” reverberated at the venue of the CPM party congress on Thursday, as a group of comrades from West Bengal rendered it in front of the E K Nayanar Academy.
The 15-member group from CPM’s Bishorpara West area committee in North 24 district has been a regular at party congress venues for quite sometime now. Led by area secretary Pintu Chakraborty, the team has also been to other venues like Kozhikode, Vijayawada and Hyderabad in the past.
“We have been facing brutal attacks by TMC members in West Bengal. The CPM remains the only alternative and hope for us,” says Mahitosh Pramanik, an area committee member. “I was a polling agent. The political goons of BJP and TMC beat me up,” said his wife and fellow cadre Bula Pramanik.
Unless the TMC is replaced, the CPM can’t survive there, opined Manoranjan Saha, another senior comrade. It seems the party leadership in West Bengal too shares the same sentiment. Interestingly, delegates from West Bengal have been advocating roping in the Congress party in the grand alliance, in stark contrast to the Kerala CPM’s vehement opposition to the same.