HVK Archives: CPM report hints at crumbling bastion
CPM report hints at crumbling bastion - The Telegraph
Tamal Sengupta
()
September 15, 1998
Title: CPM report hints at crumbling bastion
Author: Tamal Sengupta
Publication: The Telegraph
Date: September 15, 1998
The CPM's grip on peasants, its traditional vote bank, is
weakening over the past four years, according to an internal
party document.
Called the Draft Political Organisational Report, it portrays how
peasants, solidly tied in the near past to the CPM's apron
strings, are slowly veering away in Bankura, Burdwan, Birbhum,
Hooghly and Howrah, all known as Red bailiwicks since 1994.
The 60-page report, discussed threadbare in last month's CPM
state conference in Howrah, also illustrates how the party is
losing momentum of growth in agrarian and Left-oriented districts
like Midnapore, Murshidabad and Nadia.
What is worrying the CPM is the revelation that agricultural
labourer-members are actually dropping out of the party in
Bankura, Burdwan, Hooghly and Midnapore districts which had
earlier occupied key positions in many agrarian movements.
"It is an alarming development which must be addressed by our
district committees in the coming days," the report warns.
The report has flummoxed the CPM leadership as the peasants,
especially the poor, belonging to either one of the many
scheduled castes or tribes, have always been traditional
supporters.
Interestingly, the leadership, worried over the trend, had
instructed all district committees long before the Howrah
conference to submit a detailed report on the issue. Cooch
Behar, Darjeeling, Howrah, Jalpaiguri, Purulia and North Dinajpur
district committees are yet to respond to the directive.
According to the report, the party does not have any peasant-
wholetimers in most of the districts. The only exceptions are
Birbhum, Burdwan, Hooghly, Midnapore and Nadia where peasants
still associate themselves with the party as wholetimers.
Going by the report, the CPM managed to increase in the past five
years its membership only by 7.79 per cent, considered not very
encouraging. In 1994, the party had 2,16,490 members which rose
to 2,33,376 in 1998. Districts Nadia and Jalpaiguri experienced
a sharp fall in membership during the period.
Of the two, Nadia stands out because influential party Central
Committee member Anil Biswas belongs to it. Significantly, the
party in Jalpaiguri has been on a downward curve in terms of
membership since 1992.
The report censures four district units without naming them for
their failure to furnish details about membership strengths to
the leadership. In 1997 too, five districts held back such
details making it difficult for the leadership to ascertain the
size of membership in the respective areas.
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