A four-day state convention of the Communist Get together of India (Marxist) started in West Bengal’s Hooghly district on Saturday, with leaders emphasising the necessity to induct younger members and handle the rising distance between the get together and its rural help base.
CPI(M) chief Prakash Karat. (ANI File Photograph)
The twenty seventh state convention of the CPI(M) Bengal unit is being attended by the get together’s nationwide leaders equivalent to its central committee coordinator Prakash Karat.
In line with delegates attending the convention, Karat expressed concern over the get together’s organisational weak spot within the state that it dominated for 34 years with no break till its 2011 defeat to the Trinamool Congress (TMC).
“Karat said in his inaugural speech that neither TMC nor the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) can be countered if the CPI(M) fails to induct more young members. Having only young leaders is not enough, he said,” a state committee member stated, requesting anonymity.
Former CPI(M) normal secretary Sitaram Yechury, who died in September final yr, had repeatedly suggested the get together to concentrate on this main shortcoming, stated a number of the delegates.
“After CPI(M) failed to win any seat in the 294-member Bengal legislative assembly in the 2021 polls, Yechury told state leaders at an internal meeting that the median age of the nation’s population, which is around 28 years, should reflect in the party or else it will fail to face its opponents,” a second state committee member stated.
“In 2011, when the mandate went against us, 30.08% voters still backed us. In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, our vote share stood at 5.67%. State secretary Md Salim said in his address that the distance between CPI(M) and the rural population, our main support base till a decade ago, is evident,” stated a delegate from the Kolkata district committee.
“These issues will figure at the 24th party congress in Madurai in April,” he added.
The state convention began after tributes had been paid to Yechury and former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who died in August final yr.