By N Muraleedharan
@the_news_21
Thiruvananthapuram: Ahead of its 23rd party congress, the CPI(M) leadership has turned overly exuberant over the rise of China as a mighty global power.
The national sentiment which tends to look at China suspiciously on account of the border tensions has proved no dampener to the adulation of the Peoples Republic of China at party forums by top CPI(M) functionaries, including its politburo members.
Unlike on previous occasions, the exultant invocation of the ‘Socialist powerhouse’ this time round has a methodical dimension about it.
The party seems to see in the surge of China the re-emergence of a binary that pits face to face the forces of socialism and imperialism as the principal global contradiction. As per this perspective, the triumph of China marks the end of the US-dominated international order spawned by the collapse of the Soviet Union and its East European satellites before the last century drew to a close.
This dialectical reasoning empowers the CPI(M), and similar left outfits around the world, with the theoretical ammunition to assert that socialism is not an outdated idea.
The CPI-M’s triennial assembly of delegates from across the country, called the party congress, is slated to be held in Kannur in Kerala in April. The party congress will discuss and adopt broad political policies, strategies and tactics to be followed for the next three years. The deliberations will be based on a draft political resolution already cleared by the party’s central committee.
The all-India session is preceded by meetings and election of office-bearers at a branch, local, area, district and state-level units, to complete the internal ‘democratic’ process based on the concept of ‘democratic centralism.’
The CPI-M is one of the few communist parties of the world that still zealously follows all the organisational procedures and protocols laid down by the 20the century pioneers.
Apart from the national issues, international developments also come up for deliberations at the party congress, though more as an academic exercise than serving any real purpose.
The pre-congress party meets in Kerala have been replete with frothing eulogy by leaders on China’s emergence as the undisputed leader of the socialist order strong enough to take on the imperialist axis led by the United States. The success of China, they hold, marks the triumph of socialism as the most potent and viable political and economic system.
While exulting in China’s economic clout and increased international role, the party leaders are largely silent on the border row of that country with India. They also choose to skip sensitive issues like naked violation of human rights by China of its minorities like Uyghurs of Xinjiang province.
All the same, they did not miss taking potshots at India’s foreign policy, alleging its basic tenets being tweaked by the present regime to suit the interests of America. They also made barbed snipes at India being a partner in the US-led consortium that seeks to halt China on its track.
“China’s growth shows the power of socialism, “ said a senior CPI-M politburo member while addressing a district party meet. Then he went on to state “there is a conspiracy to subvert the progress being made by China under the socialist system”, capping his concern with a dig at the Narendra Modi government as having surrendered the country’s foreign policy to the interests of America.
The CPI(M) leaders’ timing to go on with full-throated praise of China when that country’s relations with India are fraught with deep distrust has raised many an eyebrow. Having faced a barrage of criticism, the party leaders later clarified their statements were taken out of context by local media.
Confined essentially to Kerala, the issue hasn’t sparked any national debate. But the issue is likely to gain national attention when it gets debated in the party congress.
