Thaindian News

Hyderabad, June 12 (IANS) The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Sunday admitted that mistakes on Singur and Nandigram led to its “big” defeat in the West Bengal assembly polls but did not agree that the Left has become irrelevant politically. It also ruled out any leadership change.

The central committee of the party, which concluded its two-day meeting here, analysed the reasons for its poll debacle in West Bengal and Kerala.

CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat told reporters Sunday evening that the leadership roles in the party are not determined by the poll outcomes but by the political line.

He said the prolonged rule of the Left Front for 34 years in West Bengal led to accumulation of some negative factors.

“Notwithstanding the big achievements of the Left Front governments over the last three decades, there were shortcomings and weaknesses in some of the policies and measures adopted for the welfare of the people. The mistakes with regard to Singur and Nandigram proved costly,” said a statement issued by the party.

The party took solace in the fact that nearly two crore people voted for Left Front despite the adverse verdict which amounts to 41 percent of the total votes. “A substantial section of poor and working class stood with the Left Front,” Karat noted.

Interestingly, former West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee did not attend the meeting, citing health reasons.

Replying to a query on this, Karat said was no mystery behind Bhattacharjee’s absence. “His health condition does not permit him to move out of Kolkata,” he said.

The review report adopted by the central committee set out some of the corrective steps to be taken at the political and organisational level to help the party regain the lost ground. “Though it will be long and arduous process, the party will embark on that,” he said.

The review also identified the organisational defects and shortcomings which have alienated various sections of the people.

The central committee did not agree that the electoral defeat in West Bengal has rendered the CPI-M and the Left politically irrelevant.

“There has been unity from extreme right to extreme left forged under the TMC (Trinamool Congress) combine. It also had its impact on our performance,” asserted Karat. He pointed out that since May 2009 till assembly elections, 388 Left Front and CPI-M activists were killed, a large number of them by Maoists.

Condemning the post-poll violence in West Bengal targeting CPI-M workers and offices, the meeting decided to launch a week-long campaign from July 1 to defend democracy.

In Kerala, the party noted that the Left Democratic Front (LDF) lost narrowly. The UDF could win only with a slender margin of three seats. The central committee has directed the Kerala state committee to examine various aspects of the election results and to take steps to further strengthen the party and the movement in Kerala.

The Left party felt the Congress party cannot take much satisfaction from the results of the five state assembly elections, with the exception of Assam.

“This is a reflection of the image of the central government as being one steeped in corruption. Its failure to curb price rise caused discontent among the people. It was virtually wiped out in Tamil Nadu along with the major partner, the DMK. In Kerala it barely managed to scrape through,” the statement said.

Karat rubbished the Forward Block’s demand for a leadership change in CPI-M “How one party can talk about leadership change in another party,” he asked.

The central committee decided to hold the 20th congress of the party in Kerala in April 2012.