CPI’s party congress fails to leave even a whimper in national politics

Thiruvananthapuram: The Communist Party of India (CPI) concluded its 25th party congress in Chandigarh this week, without leaving even a little whimper in national politics.

All the difference the party made after its last congress in Vijayawada three years back and now was the loss of national party status. The party is now facing the likelihood of losing its long-held election symbol as well.

Despite being a politically inconsequential event, the party delegates drawn from across the country assembled for the triennial gathering with the usual flair, fanfare, and paraphernalia, some of which were a nostalgic throwback to the heydays of international communism with the erstwhile Soviet Union at its apogee.

There was no dearth of rhetoric either. Resolutions were moved and adopted, voicing serious concern over the ‘dangerous, rightward tilt’ of Indian polity. They reminded the comrades of the historic task of mobilising the masses to arrest further drift.

The leaders gave out a clarion call to defend the Constitution, which they said was facing severe assault under the BJP regime at the Centre.

The congress drew to a close by electing D Raja as the party’s general secretary for a third consecutive stint, ignoring some enfeebled noises against breaching the age bar of 75 in his case.

Reports suggest that there had been some open debate on the steady decline of the party’s influence across the country. Even as the leaders who steered the proceedings agreed to these concerns, the consensus at the end of the day was that the party was moving in the right direction — ideologically, strategically, and tactically. The situation called for no drastic reconfiguring of its political line or an organisational overhaul.

At the national level, CPI is a sub-junior constituent of the I.N.D.I.A bloc led by the Congress. Kerala is the only state where it has a significant presence. There too, it is a smaller partner in the ruling LDF, led by the CPI(M).

Though a vehement supporter of the Congress in national politics, the burden of taking on the Congress scions in the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat was, ironically, cast on CPI in the last two elections.

As it concludes the meet, the key question dangling in the air is whether the Communist movement has any meaningful role in Indian politics.

At the dawn of Independence, the undivided CPI was a strong political force across the country, including parts of the Hindi heartland. Its tall leaders came from Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh, besides the traditional left turf of Kerala.

Also, its trade union fronts were strong in industrial towns, and peasants’ and farm workers’ outfits in rural areas. In the first three Lok Sabha elections, the party’s candidates won from many states. The party’s parliamentary wing was led by committed and selfless leaders, who used the floor of the House to effectively present the trials and tribulations of the masses.

But over the decades the party steadily lost its support base, compelling it to confine itself to a few pockets of the country.

Political historians have cited multiple reasons for the steady erosion of the support base of the mainstream communist parties. These include a highly doctrinaire approach in analysing the Indian situation. With an obsessive focus on classical Marxism and the Leninist revolutionary paradigm, Indian communist leaders are said to have lost sight of the contradictions unique to Indian society, including the deeply rooted caste system, which continued to be a lethal instrument of economic exploitation and social oppression of the masses.

The just-concluded party congress could at least have been leveraged as an occasion to introspect on the legacy of the Indian Communist movement stretching back 100 years. Critics say it is a legacy with failures outweighing achievements. The party leadership, both present and past, has smugly tended to gloss over such questions, asserting that its legacy has been glorious and the future not all that dim, as the critics hold.