MADURAI: The 24th Congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), which culminated on a more-or-less uneventful note in Madurai on Sunday – barring a surprise election to the Central Committee – elected veteran leader M A Baby as its sixth general secretary.
The 71-year-old’s elevation to the top post was on expected lines, though there was some opposition initially from the West Bengal unit. A former Kerala minister, Baby is the second leader from the state CPM to lead the party, after Communist patriarch E M S Namboodiripad. He is also the first leader from the Christian minority to lead the party.
The party congress also elected an 85-member Central Committee with 20% women representation and 30 new faces.
The congress, which chose to strictly adhere to the age cap of 75 years, saw seven veterans, including Prakash Karat, Manik Sarkar, Brinda Karat and Subhashini Ali stepping down from the politburo (PB), making way for eight new faces.
The Karats, Sarkar and Ali along with three veterans – Biman Basu, S Ramachandran Pillai and Hannan Mollah — were made special invitees to the CC.
Jammu & Kashmir leader Mohammed Yusuf Tarigami and P K Sreemathy from Kerala too were exempted from the age criterion and retained in CC.
The PB strength has been increased to 18 from the previous 17. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan — already on extension — was given another extension to retain him in the PB.
The eight new faces inducted into the PB include All India Democratic Women’s Association general secretary Mariam Dhawale of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu trade unionist U Vasuki, Delhi-based Keralite and All India Kisan Sabha general secretary Vijoo Krishnan, R Arun Kumar from Andhra Pradesh, Tripura secretary Jiten Choudhury, Tamil Nadu leader K Balakrishnan, Srideep Bhattacharya from West Bengal and Rajasthan MP Amra Ram.
Sources said the decision to induct K Balakrishnan was taken at the last minute, after concerns came up over lack of Tamil Nadu representation in the PB.
It was a unanimous decision: M A Baby
In a first, election was held to the CC, after Maharashtra CITU leader D L Karad challenged the official panel and chose to contest. Though he lost — polling only 31 votes out of around 729 who voted — the unprecedented development took even the party leaders by surprise.
Kerala got increased representation in the CC with three more members — LDF convener T P Ramakrishnan, secretariat member Dineshan Puthalath and senior woman leader from Malabar K S Saleekha — being inducted into the committee, in addition to John Brittas who has been made a permanent invitee. A K Balan was dropped from CC.
Speaking to TNIE after being elected, Baby said the election was unanimous. “It was West Bengal secretary Mohammed Salim who proposed my name, and it was backed by Dr Ashok Dhawale, whom some of you had projected as the general secretary candidate,” Baby said. Being chosen to lead the party through the worst ever crisis in its history, Baby said building up the party at places where it is weak, increasing the independent strength of the party, and taking on the Sangh Parivar-led BJP are the major tasks before him.
Baby takes over at a time when the CPM has been mostly confined to the southern end of the country, specifically Kerala. He has a challenging task ahead, to win back the party’s lost appeal in other parts of the country, especially West Bengal and Tripura, where the party suffered colossal electoral losses.
New faces in PB
Jiten Choudhury
K Balakrishnan
U Vasuki
Amra Ram
Srideep Bhattacharya
Vijoo Krishnan
Mariam Dhawale
R Arun Kumar
Those who stepped down from PB
Prakash Karat
Manik Sarkar
Brinda Karat
Subhashini Ali
Surjya Kanta Mishra
G Ramakrishnan
Central Committee Permanent Invitees
Sudeep Dutta
Bal Singh
John Brittas
Sudhanva Deshpande
Special Invitees
Manik Sarkar
Prakash Karat
Brinda Karat (W)
Subhashini Ali (W)
S Ramachandran Pillai
Biman Basu
Hannan Mollah
Control commission
G Ramakrishnan will chair the Control Commission. Kerala leader M Vijayakumar and West Bengal leader Rabin Deb too are part of the commission.
AT THE HELM
An outstanding Marxist theorist and art connoisseur, M A Baby will lead the CPM for the next three years
He was inducted into the Central Committee in 1989, even before Pinarayi made it to the top panel
However, he got elevated to the politburo only in 2012, after Pinarayi and Kodiyeri Balakrishnan
85-member CC
Kerala gets bigger representation in Central Committee. Age relaxation given to P K Sreemathy in CC. John Brittas made permanent invitee to the committee
Politburo strength increased to 18 from 17. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan gets yet another extension in PB
Mariam and Ashok Dhawale become second couple to reach politburo, after Brinda and Prakash Karat
