CPI(M) in Keralam vows to fix lapses, regain public trust after poll debacle

Months after the crushing debacle in the assembly elections, the top leadership of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI[M]) gathered in Kozhikode for the three-day extended state committee meeting on Sunday, vowing to fix its organisational lapses identified through multi-tier internal reviews.

Paloli Muhammad Kutty, its senior-most leader, hoisted the party flag, while general secretary MA Baby delivered the inaugural address.

A draft report prepared by the state secretariat on the review of the Assembly election defeat, held at multiple levels of the party, was presented at the meeting in Kozhikode on Sunday, with the floor later thrown open for debate among party leaders. The debate will extend till Monday night, followed by a public rally in the city on Tuesday.

CPI(M) state secretary MV Govindan told reporters on Sunday that the party has identified weaknesses and lapses during organisational reviews, held from branch level to state level, and that it intends to fix them as part of internal reforms.

“We will fix whatever needs to be fixed and adopt the right stand. There have been lapses and organisational weaknesses. It’s true. That’s why we are doing an intervention right now,” said Govindan.

At the same time, Govindan steered clear of pointing out the specific lapses on the part of the organisation or the leadership that led to the humbling defeat. He, however, underlined that the draft report prepared by the secretariat does not include personal criticisms of leaders.

The extended state committee meeting of the party is being keenly watched over whether former chief minister and current leader of opposition Pinarayi Vijayan and his close confidante Govindan will come under fire from their colleagues over the style and manner in which the party’s campaign was led during the elections. Specifically, the party’s humbling defeats in its strongholds of Payyannur and Taliparamba, both in Kannur district, due to the choice of candidates have been intensely discussed.

A report prepared by the central committee in July had admitted that the campaign was increasingly personalised and centered around Vijayan. “...we unwittingly gave an opportunity to the UDF to conduct a targeted campaign against him. Consequently, we have lost the political initiative to expose the reactionary, ruling class bias of the Congress and the UDF,” it had said.

The same report had admitted that reading out a message from Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath at a Sabarimala event “was a major embarassment to the party’s secular image and had an adverse impact on our election campaign.” It said that the party could not issue strong responses to the anti-Muslim utterances of SNDP chief Vellappally Natesan.

During his inaugural address, general secretary Baby said that there was a deliberate creation of false perception about the LDF among the masses.

“We should have exposed this false narrative and defeated. But we failed to do so. There were other lapses on our part too. We need to correct such lapses and regain the trust of the people,” he said.