Kerala CPM ‘blames’ central leadership

Thiruvananthapuram: A section of Kerala CPM leaders believes that instead of laying more emphasis on the formation of an alternative secular government at the centre, the party should have emphatically campaigned on the need to increase the strength of Left parties in Parliament. In that case, the huge electoral reverses it suffered in the state could have been avoided.

The focus should have been on seeking the support of people to elect more Left candidates based on the track record of the communist parties within and outside Parliament. The CPM central committee meeting scheduled to be held on June 7,8 and 9 will deliberate on these issues at length and come out with corrective measures.

It is felt that while the party successfully ran the campaign against the Modi-led NDA dispensation, its stress on installing an alternative secular government at the centre and that too in the absence of a concrete Left-democratic-secular  pre-poll alliance at the national level, created huge confusion among a big section of voters.

The central committee will also be chalking out a concrete line to counter the Sangh Parivar strategy to weaken the CPM in Kerala.

There have been reports that the BJP allegedly transferred its votes to UDF candidates in as many as 14 seats. The Sangh Parivar strategy was to weaken the CPM electorally even if it led to temporary gains for the Congress.

The Sangh Parivar feels that supporting the UDF could help in weakening a cadre -based party like the CPM, which is well- entrenched in the state, in the longer run.

From the experience of other states,  the BJP think-tank believes that the Congress can be decimated easily compared to the Left.

The CPM camp is aware of the alleged devious designs of the Sangh Parivar and the possibility of the same strategy being repeated in Assembly elections in 2021.

It feels the party's large mass base, effective network of cadres, state government's pro- poor policies and the positive attitude of people towards the Left will help in overcoming the electoral reverses.

The party wants its critics not to write an epitaph to the CPM yet. With local bodies' elections less than 15 months away, the party leadership believes that there is not only enough time to regain its lost support base but also to strengthen the organisation for bigger electoral battles in future.