#dnaedit:Political oblivion

The Congress and its ally-turned-adversary the Communist Party of India Marxist (CPI-M) seem to share a lot in common these days. If the massive defeats in the recent polls were not humiliating enough, the two are now trotting out similar and ritualistic responses to deal (or not to deal) with their stunning reversals of fortune. The lackadaisical tenor and substance of such  poll analysis suggest an alarming lack of awareness of the tectonic political and governance shifts that have taken place. One may have reasonably expected that the near total decimation of the Congress and the Left would have jolted them — at least this one time — into some hard self-introspection.

But that doesn’t seem to be on the cards. “The most comical sight was presented by the Congress: Even as the results were coming out, Congress workers started a demonstration at the party headquarters, demanding that Priyanka Gandhi be brought in to take over command of the party! The CPI-M said it believed in collective responsibility and that basically means that nothing changes,” writes political theorist Aditya Nigam on Kafila.

Interestingly, however, dissenters down the party hierarchy are beginning to hit out at the leadership. Consider the ongoing turmoil within the CPI-M. Stuck in a Stalinist groove, the party leadership may still be unwilling to shake things up, but the good news is the cadres are openly challenging their reluctant leaders and questioning their abject failure in making the Left relevant to contemporary politics.
Earlier this week, the CPI-M’s West Bengal committee met for a two-day review meeting of the party’s election results. Picking up just two seats out of a total of 40 — down by seven seats from the 2009 general elections — the CPI-M has plunged to an all time electoral low. In one fell swoop, the  Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP ), seems to have moved into the position of  main opposition in West Bengal. Yet, the party leadership continues to hide behind inanities. Sample the comments made by Mohammad Salim, one of the two MPs: “There was criticism and self-criticism. The state committee will discuss the reports from the districts and send its report to the central committee, which will send it back after assimilation.”

Such a bureaucratic pitch underlines that even at this serious hour of existential crisis (perhaps the worst in the CPI-M’s over three-decade long history) the party is incapable of firming up an honest, reflective response. But political dishonesty, it seems, is no longer acceptable to angry CPI-M activists on the ground. Recently, these recalcitrant cadres organised a rally near the state party headquarters on Alimuddin Street and called for the resignation of the party’s all-India general secretary Prakash Karat and West Bengal’s entire state secretariat. The demonstrators were led by the expelled CPI-M leader and sitting MLA Abdur Rezzak Mollah.

Former party leader Subhanil Chowdhury, recently expelled for seeking change of leadership, has openly accused the high command of stifling dissent. “...instead of replying my questions, the party has expelled me,” is what Chowdhury has to say. Ruling out any immediate change in leadership, the CPI-M state secretary Biman Bose said, “those who criticised the party outside the party platform, should remain out.”

The sheer hubris of such fiats indicate the CPI-M’s refusal to move beyond archaic organisational methods that are now outdated. Unless it sheds its old skin, any talk of CPI-M’s revival is meaningless.