Karats step down, CPI(M) gen secy elected in key jig
Senior leaders Prakash Karat and Brinda Karat stepped down from the Politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
Senior leaders Prakash Karat and Brinda Karat stepped down from the Politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), with the party inducting eight new members, indicating a generational shift as the party looks to regain lost ground ahead of the Kerala elections next year.
The party also elected Mariam Alexander Baby as the general secretary during the 24th party congress of the CPI(M), which was held at Madurai in Tamil Nadu.
An 85-member Central Committee was elected, including 30 new members. The Central Committee elected an 18-member Politburo that has eight new inclusions.
Former general secretary Prakash Karat, who took over as the interim coordinator of the CPI(M) in the run-up to the congress after the death of incumbent general secretary Sitaram Yechury, was among the Politburo members who stepped down, as did Brinda Karat, Subhashini Ali, Manik Sarkar, Surjya Kanta Mishra and G Ramakrishnan.
Except Mishra, the others will join veterans like Hannan Mollah, S Ramachandran Pillai and Biman Basu as special invitees to the Central Committee.
The new members in the Politburo are Sikar MP Amra Ram, Vijoo Krishnan, R Arun Kumar, Mariam Dhawale, U Vasuki, K Balakrishnan, Jitendra Choudhary and Srideep Bhattacharya.
“The CPI(M) Party Congress has elected an 85-member Central Committee with one vacancy. The new Central Committee elected an 18-member Polit Bureau with Comrade M.A. Baby as the General Secretary. 20% of the Central Committee members are women,” the party said in a statement.
Prakash Karat, however, dismissed reports of a generational shift, maintaining that a “new set of leaders have come”.
“It is not fully correct to say that a generational shift has taken place in the CPIM. In the sense, our new general secretary (MA Baby)... he is being around for a long time. He succeeded me in the SFI in the 1970s. You can say new set of leaders have come. There are younger people in the politburo. But remember, there are still 3-4 of them who are of my age. But definitely, many new generation leaders have come,” he told HT.
While the party has an age limit of 75 years for membership of the Politburo, Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, now 78, was given an exception along with PK Sreemathy and Mohammed Yousuf Tarigami, said the party.
MA Baby, former education minister of Kerala, who was elected to the top post, faces the challenge of guiding the party for the next three years, especially in its strongholds of Kerala and West Bengal, which goes to the polling booths next year.
Following the election, the 70-year-old called for a larger “political unity” to counter the Bharatiya Janata Party-Rashtriya Sawayamsevak Sangh combine.
“As the Sangh-Parivar and BJP regime continue to show neo-fascist tendencies in the country, there is a need to have large political unity. Such political unity will be formed based on the political situation in each state,” he said.
“In Delhi, AAP and Congress are part of the INDIA bloc, but they fought separately. In West Bengal, there was a tri-cornered contest between TMC, BJP and CPM-Congress. In Tamil Nadu, DMK is the leader of the alliance where both CPM and Congress are present. So it will depend on each state,” he said.
He also said that Vijayan will the LDF campaign in Kerala which is due to go to polls next year. “When we get re-elected, who will become CM will be decided by the party,” he said.
People familiar with the matter said that Prakash Karat suggested the name of MA Baby for the top post at the party congress, which is held every three years.
Baby served as a member of the Rajya Sabha from 1986 to 1998, and later became MLA from Kundara constituency for two terms from 2006 to 2016.He also served as the Education Minister of Kerala from 2006-2011. Baby has been a member of the Politburo, the highest decision-making body of the CPI(M), since 2012.In 2014, he fought the Lok Sabha polls from Kollam against NK Premachandran of Revolutionary Socialist Party, but lost.
The name of CITU vice-president DL Karad was also proposed by some members at the congress, the people said. Karad, however, failed to get enough votes.
Talking to reporters later, the leader from Maharashtra said some members felt that those working on the ground should be sent to the Central Committee. “The party congress was electing the Central Committee, some comrades suggested my name, I consented,” Karad said.
He, however, added that there are no differences between him and the party.
“There is no question of any differences. I am a disciplined worker of the party and I will fight under the CPI-M’s banner. It is not a protest against anyone. This party congress has said class struggle at the grassroots level should be waged militantly,” Karad said.
“Comrades fighting at the grassroots level should get a place in the Central Committee, so some comrades had suggested my name,” he said.
Karad also said the contest reflected the democracy in the party and asserted that the aim of the CPI(M) remains to implement socialism in the country.
