People's Democracy
(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
No.
21
May 31, 2009
|
Vol. XXXIII
No.
21 May 31, 2009 |
On
Organisational Weaknesses�
B Prasant
THE
The state committee noted that
the Congress-led
coalition/alliance achieved unexpected success at the all-India level
of the
Lok Sabha polls garnering 61 seats more than it had done in 2004. The
percentage increase in votes won was less than impressive, up from
26.50 to
28.50 according to provisional figures of the Election Commission. The Congress won 205 seats, and with allies
the tally reached 262.
There was a remarkable and
welcome decrease in the
electoral strength of the BJP and the NDA it leads in terns of seats
won and
voting percentage. While NDA won 159
seats, the BJP lost 2.90 per cent of votes from 2004.
The combined total of voting percentage of
BJP + Congress (at 48.70 per cent) remained below the figure obtained
in 2004.
Despite winning with �lan, both
seats in Tripura
inclusive of every assembly segment there, the CPI(M) lost 25 seats it
had won
in 2004 in the states of
The
There is a need for deep-rooted
surveys and analyses
at the all-India and the state level in a wide manner to identify the
reasons
why such electoral results were obtained. This will take some time to
go
through. Primarily, the
First, despite the exceptions
obtaining in several
states as far as results were concerned, the nation�s electorate,
especially
the secular part being conscious of the terrorist threat in particular,
regarded the Congress as the more reliable vehicle for the setting up
of a
stable government as against a hung parliament and instability.
The people were also eager to
prevent a return to
office of the communal BJP and this is a contributory cause why the
support of
the secular vote behind the Congress platform increased.
It is true that it was the pressure from the
Left that saw the passage of legislations like the NREGA, the adivasi
and
forest rights bill, and other social welfare programmes.
Nonetheless, the electoral benefit was reaped
by the Congress as a party.
The Left fought the election in
different states in
conjunction and in alliance with a number of �non-Congress, non-BJP�
political
parties. This was necessary to build up a �non-Congress-secular�
electoral
alternative at the all-India level. The people did not accept as a
stable,
reliable alternative such an alliance that grew up immediately prior to
the
elections in some states.
The state committee believed
that the all-India trend
of results played a decisive role in election results obtaining in
The state committee shall
identify these lacunae in a
specific way and attach more importance to rectification of the
political-organisational fault-lines. It
shall learn the necessary lessons from the verdict cast by the mass of
the
people of Bengal in the Lok Sabha elections, earnest and eager as the
A large number of comrades have
taken a huge risk, and
have struggled to the cost of their lives in the run up to and during
the
elections. And 34 have been martyred by the enemies, bringing up to a
total of
no less that 353 members of the
The people devoted themselves
heart-and-soul in a
struggle that involved standing face-to-face before the combined enmity
and
might of the attack being centred on this Left bastion with the active
participation
of
It does not carry with the
ideological stance of the
CPI(M) and the historical experience to ponder about the long-lasting
character
of the elements that make up the present situation. Newer sections of
the
society would be pulled into the mainstream of resistance and struggle
because
of the insistent transfer of the burden of the worldwide economic
crisis onto
the shoulders of developing nations like India, the surrender of the
Indian
ruling classes before imperialist pressure-tactics, the consequent
price rise,
unemployment, closure, and lay offs affecting India and her people. People across the board of political
affiliation shall be the victims of the process of economic and social
dysfunction.
In the circumstances that have
appeared before the
nation, it is the Left and the Left alone that can organise in a
broadest
platform, all the �non-Congress secular� forces in the country based on
a
common minimum programme. The struggle
towards this target must be kept up relentlessly. The unity of the Left
Front
must be continued with and further improved in every sense. One of the primary tasks before the
There may well be attempts made
in the days to come to
create limitless opposition against the ongoing and continuous attempt
by the
Left Front government to implement pro-people programmes.
At the same time, the
The CPI(M) workers, sympathisers
and the mass of the
people must initiate attempts step-by-step to build up a most massive
movement
of the people to defend the democratic situation in
Political mass contact must be
made in a deeper and
wider manner. The relentless flood of misinformation, lies, and
slandering
against the CPI(M) and the Left, in the corporate media must be nailed.
There
should be no attempts to either create aggravation or fall into the
trap of
provocation. There is need now more than
ever, for patience, toleration, control, and intelligence.
The people must be reposed trust
in and the trust of
the people in the CPI(M) must be further enhanced. The task of
deepening mass
contact must be augmented through appropriate reorganisation of the
ongoing
tasks. Specific measures must be taken to up to increase the
believability,
trustworthiness, acceptance, and credibility of the CPI(M) amongst the
mass of
the people.
