THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Sensing a rise in bourgeois tendencies among its leaders and cadre after LDF retained power in Kerala under Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, the CPM is going for a vigorous ‘rectification’ drive after a nine-year gap. “Starting from the state secretary, all factions, including the state secretariat and state committee, to the lowest unit of branch members will be subjected to an elaborate process of self-criticism,” CPM state secretary M V Govindan told TNIE.
“Each member will be subjected to the process. Each committee will discuss their mistakes. Steps will be taken to rectify them,” he said. The CPM state committee, whose two-day meeting concluded on Thursday, gave the nod for the process. The decision was taken based on the discussion held on the document ‘Contemporary politics and party’s immediate responsibilities in organisational sector.’
‘Fall in values will reflect in party, it is unacceptable’
At the discussion, the party leadership noticed bureaucratic hegemony in the organisation after LDF retained power in 2021. Besides, party-controlled institutions like cooperative banks have been facing charges of financial irregularities. Complaints and representations of disproportionate assets of middle-level leaders had also reached the leadership, it noted.
Moreover, CPM-ruled local self-government institutions are facing serious charges ranging from job scams to financial frauds. Alcohol addiction tendency among young cadre and leaders was also on the rise, while the Karuvannoor cooperative bank fraud and the row over the postings in Thiruvananthapuram corporation took a toll on the party and the government, the leadership noted.
Govindan said CPM will not tolerate any tendency that do not have the people’s approval. “The party examined certain tendencies reported by the media and has decided to intervene to resolve the issues with an iron fist. CPM is not a compartmental institution. The fall in values in society will reflect in it too. It is unacceptable,” he said.
The CPM leadership is of the view that since Kerala is the lone state where the party is in power, a situation akin to West Bengal or Tripura should not happen here. The CPM central leadership too wants to win maximum seats from Kerala in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The CPM central leadership had first spearheaded rectification campaigns in 1996 based on a party document and then again in 2009. In 2013, the state leadership organised a plenum in Palakkad. “This is a critical and self-critical process,” party ideologue S Ramamchandran Pillai told TNIE. “It is aimed at evaluating the cadre and overall situation. We take lessons not only from West Bengal and Tripura but also from erstwhile USSR and other Communist-ruled nations,” he said.