CPI(M) state committee member Samik Lahiri on Monday blurted out some uncomfortable hometruths about the party organisation, saying there was lack of inner-party democracy. He claimed that the top satraps of the CPI(M) imposed their decision on the party rank and file. According to sources, Mr Lahiri said that the policy of a Communist party was democratic centralism but there was only centralism in the CPI(M).
The CPI(M) leader was among the three delegates who participated in the discussion on “Draft Resolution on Organisation” on the second day of party’s plenum at Pramode Dasgupta Bhawan. According to party insiders, what came as a surprise for other state committee members was the fact that Mr Lahiri chose the platform of the plenum to do some plain speaking, which clearly made senior leaders a little uncomfortable.
He also urged the party leadership to allow debate on key issues inside the party instead of pushing them on back-burners. “The doctrine of democratic centralism has been violated. It seems that the top leadership has lost the will to listen to the opinion of others. As a result, the party organisation has become fragile like a house of cards,” Mr Lahiri was quoted as saying during the discussion.
Mr Lahiri was the first speaker on Monday and he spoke in the presence of Sitaram Yechury, Prakash Karat, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Sujya Kanta Mishra, Biman Bose and others.
It was also learnt that the delegate from Kerala, P. Rajeev, also shared his sentiments and criticised some decisions of the party leadership. Narayan Kar from Tripura was the third delegate who took part in the discussion in the morning session.
A large section of Bengal CPI(M) party leaders including veteran party patriarch Jyoti Basu and Mr Bhattacharjee was opposed to the the Left Front’s withdrawal of support to the UPA I in 2008. “However, the then party general secretary Prakash Kart forced the decision on the party. Look at the diastrous consequences,” a party leader said.
It may be recalled that during the party’s 24th state conference, which was held between March 8 and 13, some districts leaders had voiced their displeasure over the continued dependence on old and ailing leaders.
