Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 3 (IANS) The post-poll churn in the CPI(M) is gathering momentum, with senior leader Thomas Isaac standing by his candid assessment of the party’s electoral defeat and veteran former leader T.K. Govindan turning his criticism directly against the party leadership.
Isaac, who on Wednesday described the election verdict as a shock treatment administered by the people to the CPI(M), said on Thursday that his remarks were based entirely on the observations contained in the party Central Committee report and that he stood by what he had said.
His admission that the party and its workers had developed an arrogance after being in power for ten years had already triggered debate within the organisation.
Isaac’s position assumes added significance as the party prepares to finalise the issues to be placed before the extended state committee meeting, scheduled to begin next weekend.
The state secretariat and state committee are expected to identify the key organisational and political questions that need to be taken up for detailed discussion.
Meanwhile, Govindan, who had broken ranks with the CPI(M) and contested the Taliparamba Assembly election as a rebel candidate, has openly challenged the leadership to accept responsibility for the defeat.
Contesting with the support of the Congress-led UDF, Govindan defeated P.K. Shyamala, the CPI(M)’s official candidate and wife of party state secretary M.V. Govindan.
Turning his criticism towards the top leadership, Govindan said the CPI(M) and former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan should openly acknowledge the mistakes that contributed to the electoral defeat.
He was particularly harsh against the 56-year-old Kannur CPI (M) district secretary K.K. Raghesh, the blue eyed boy of Vijayan. Govindan said that Ragesh started in the party when he was a plumber/electrician and his present assets should be probed and made himself also open to a probe.
He questioned why the Central Committee’s observation that the selection of the candidate in Taliparamba was flawed did not find reflection in Vijayan’s speeches during his visits to Payyannur and Taliparamba.
Govindan’s intervention is particularly significant because Taliparamba was not merely another constituency in the election.
The defeat of the official CPI(M) candidate there at the hands of a former party leader contesting as a rebel has already emerged as one of the most politically sensitive episodes of the election.
The responses from Isaac and Govindan point to a widening debate over the reasons for the Left’s defeat.
While Isaac has sought to place the discussion within the framework of the Central Committee’s own assessment, Govindan is demanding that the leadership itself confront the mistakes identified by the party.
A Facebook post by Shammy Prabhakar, News Editor of Kairali TV, the CPI(M) backed television channel and a senior journalist, has now triggered intense discussion among CPI(M) supporters.
While praising the past ten years of Left rule, the post sharply criticises the former Chief Minister for allegedly being unwilling to acknowledge the magnitude of the present setback.
With the state leadership now preparing the agenda for the extended state committee meeting, the question is whether these criticisms will translate into a broader organisational review or remain confined to post election dissent.
–IANS
sg/rad
