CPM mulls shift in political line before 2019 Lok Sabha poll

New Delhi: Facing an uphill task to remain relevant in the national political scenario, the Marxists are looking at a number of options, including a shift in their basic political line.

The CPI(M) is all set to review and debate the electoral strategy of aligning with the Opposition, including the Congress, for the 2019 general elections at the party congress that will be held in April next year.

Debates have been raging in the party over the electoral alliance with the Congress after its drubbing in the 2016 West Bengal Assembly elections. The architect of the CPI(M)-Congress deal, party general secretary Sitaram Yechury, was recently blocked by central committee and politburo from getting a third term in the Rajya Sabha.

The forthcoming party congress will also take a call on whether Mr Yechury will get a second term as general secretary. The Kerala faction, led by chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and former party boss Prakash Karat, are against a second term for Mr Yechury, sources say.

However, the party’s Bengal faction seems to be in favour of Mr Yechury remaining general secretary.

Sources said at the two-day politburo meeting held on Wednesday-Thursday, discussions were held on the tactical line to be taken by the party. They added that with the BJP rapidly gaining electorally, a section in the party is in favour of joining hands with “like-minded” parties, which include the Congress.

When asked about this, Mr Yechury made it clear any such decision would only be taken at the party congress next year. “The conditions have changed since 2015 and we will meet in 2018 again... The basic essential element of Marxism is concrete analysis of concrete conditions. Conditions have changed, so our analysis and alignment accordingly will change,” Mr Yechury said.

In other words the party, adhering to Marxist tenets, will study the mass line and emphasise the importance of correctly analysing the objective conditions.

The Kerala faction led by Mr Vijayan and Mr Karat have been consistently opposing any tieup with the Congress, while the Bengal Marxists appear flexible on the issue. In October, the CPI(M) central committe will meet to discuss and draft the political resolution of the party congress. The tactical line that needs to be adopted will be debated threadbare.

It may be recalled that the political-tactical line adopted by the CPI(M) at the previous party congress, held in 2015, was against joining forces with the Congress. The party decided to keep equidistance from both the BJP and the Congress.

Despite this, however, the CPI(M) had an electoral understanding with the Congress in the 2016 West Bengal Assembly elections. The CPI(M)-led Left Front, however, faced a drubbing in the polls and was relegated to third place, behind the ruling Trinamul Congress and the Congress in its erstwhile bastion.

With the experiment falling through, the anti-Yechury camp tore the move to shreds at a politburo meeting held soon after the West Bengal elections.