Thiruvananthapuram: Over a month after the Left Democratic Front (LDF) suffered one of its biggest electoral setbacks in Kerala, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI(M) Tuesday announced that it would seek public opinion through WhatsApp, email and other platforms as part of its efforts to rebuild and move forward. The CPI(M) leads the LDF, an alliance of Left parties that was just ousted from power.
Addressing a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram, CPI(M) state secretary M.V. Govindan said the party will hold a meeting in August of district functionaries and key leaders to plan its future and remain firm on its fundamental principles, while moving forward on organisational and political clarity. Govindan said while the party has already sought inputs from its leaders and cadres, it now aims to expand the process to the public.
As part of this initiative, the party will focus on strengthening itself in the coming days, and has launched Puthuvazhikal (New Paths) to seek public opinion through WhatsApp, email, a website and a mobile application.
“The question is how we can successfully face the challenges of the present period, and how Kerala can be guided forward more effectively while building on its positive traditions. We want to secure the full support of all sections of society. Journalists, people working in the media, and everyone else will have an opportunity to express their opinions,” Govindan said.
Govindan said that the party had sought the opinions of lakhs of functionaries from party units across the state while preparing its review report on the Kerala Assembly elections of April. He said the party leadership accepted the self-criticism that it had failed to foresee the scale of its defeat. The CPI(M)-led LDF could only secure 35 of the 140 seats in the Assembly, a debacle that included the electoral humbling of over a dozen sitting ministers.
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Anatomy of loss
Govindan said the party had analysed that caste- and community-based political mobilisation effected by political opponents weakened Left politics in the state, and it believes that the Left lost votes across all communities in varying degrees.
The report also noted that the party failed to communicate the Left government’s achievements effectively and faced organisational shortcomings, including candidate selection in Kannur’s Taliparamba and Payyannur constituencies.
In the run-up to the polls, the party faced internal rebellion in both constituencies, which eventually elected two former CPI(M) senior leaders who contested as UDF-backed independents. In Taliparamba, the CPIM had fielded Govindan’s wife, P.K. Shyamala.
“The shortcomings that occurred in the candidate selection process in the Payyannur and Taliparamba constituencies have been presented before the State Committee by the Kannur District Committee itself as part of a self-critical review. The State Committee also accepts this self-critical assessment,” he said.
The CPI(M) went on to attack the incumbent Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) government, alleging that it had found evidence of an understanding between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress in around 30 constituencies. Govindan noted that Congress finished at third place in all three constituencies won by the BJP in the state.
The party leader also criticised the UDF government for allegedly allowing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) influence in the administration and higher education system. “Nineteen Sangh Parivar-linked individuals were appointed to the Mahatma Gandhi (MG) University Senate, and the government was not prepared to say a single word against it,” he said.
He also alleged that Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan must answer questions regarding a meeting in Mangaluru involving Adani Group officials and National Democratic Alliance (NDA) leaders when he was Leader of the Opposition. Days before the election results were announced on 4 May, images of Satheesan along with Karnataka Janata Dal (Secular) leader B.M. Farooq and a group of business associates in Mangaluru surfaced on social media, triggering allegations from the CPI(M) about links between NDA figures and individuals associated with the Adani Group.
Satheesan has not yet responded to the criticism. The allegation assumes significance as the Congress had accused the CPI(M) of being extremely right-wing in their approach while positioning itself as the ‘Nehruvian Left’.
The CPI(M) further accused the government of pursuing privatisation despite presenting itself as committed to Nehruvian economic principles. “There is no Nehruvian ideology here. If you examine the last three weeks of actions, what you see is a completely extreme right-wing approach,” he said.
(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)
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