As a man who commanded a committed audience and respect much beyond the traditional support base of the Left parties in Maharashtra, CPI leader Govind Pansare will be missed by the Communist and progressive movements in the state.
As a man who commanded a committed audience and respect much beyond the traditional support base of the Left parties in Maharashtra, CPI leader Govind Pansare will be missed by the Communist and progressive movements in the state.
"This is not just a challenge for the Left movement but also to those who hold personal liberty and rationalism as sacrosanct values in a democracy, and to movements of Dalits and the exploited sections," said CPI state secretary Dr Bhalchandra Kango.
Pansare, realising the need to tap the energy of the younger generation and absorb them in the Left movement, made Left ideology easy-to-understand for them. "From 1986 till last year, he would attend the 10-day camp for the young cadre which is organised by the party," said Kango, adding that Pansare would coach youngsters in the finer nuances of ideology and public speaking.
"Attempts to suppress the progressive movement have been made in the past and are being made even today, but it will march forward with vigour," said senior CPI leader Prakash Reddy. CPI-M state secretary Dr Ashok Dhawale said that Pansare's murder bore many similarities with that of rationalist Dr Narendra Dabholkar a year-and-half ago and "was more of a challenge than a setback" to the Left.
The parliamentary Left was once a potent force in Maharashtra politics— the stalwarts of the Communist movement and the then-undivided CPI like S.A Dange, B.T Ranadive, S.S Mirajkar, Godavari and Shamrao Parulekar and Ahilyatai Rangnekar hailed from the state. Since then, the Left has seen a gradual decline in its electoral fortunes. This is a far cry from the days when leaders like Dange held sway over the textile labour belt in Mumbai.
However, it retains a strong presence in the labour sector.
The last CPI MP to be elected was the legendary Sudamkaka Deshmukh from Amravati in 1989. Deshmukh, a former MLA known for his clean image, was put up as a people's candidate for the Lok Sabha. In case of the CPI-M, it was Ramchandra Ghangare who had defeated former union minister Vasant Sathe of the Congress from Wardha in 1991.
The last CPI MLAs to be elected were Madhavrao Gaikwad from Manmad in Nashik and Namdeorao Kale from Wani in Yavatmal in 1995. The CPI has drawn a blank in subsequent state assembly polls because caste, religious and linguistic identities have acquired precedence over class consciousness.
The CPI-M too has seen a decline in its electoral fortunes with the number of its MLAs dropping from three in 2004 to one each in 2009 and 2014. In last year's assembly polls, the CPI-M lost its stronghold of Dahanu largely due to its former MLA Rajaram Ozare's rebellion after being dropped in favour of Vansha Mangat. But the victory of senior leader Jiva Pandu Gavit from Kalwan in Nashik came as a reprieve for the party.
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