Heeding the advice of late Jyoti Basu, the CPI(M) has decided to approach not only known supporters but also those who have deserted the party. The ruling party is planning to set up a 10-member team for each of the 294 Assembly constituencies which will go to polls. The responsibility of the teams will be to go from door to door to
meet angry voters. “The team will ask them the reasons for desertion. They will be asked to spell out if they have specific complaints against any CPI(M) leader. The party has asked its district leadership to take a note of every individual voter’s misgivings about the CPI(M) and the government that it ran for the past three decades,” Mohammed Salim, a central committee member said.
This is a significant decision because according to the party Red Book, earlier action could have been taken against a leader or cadre only if the complaint came from another leader or cadre. Following a significant erosion in the support base in the past three elections, party general secretary Prakash Karat advised state party satraps to do self-introspection. After some honest soul-searching, they found that people have been alienated from the party due to some rogue party activists. Of late, chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has been frequently advising party cadre to be humble and polite while dealing with people. “Don’t be arrogant and high-handed. Don’t consider yourself king and the people your subject,” he added.
The leadership had begun a rectification drive in the party organisation soon after the Lok Sabha polls. The process of identifying the corrupt party leaders has already been started and more than 3,000 party members have either been dropped or expelled in the last one-and-half year. “As the Assembly election in Bengal is round the corner, the party is forming a 10-member team in each Assembly constituency to keep a close tab on corrupt party activists. The other task of the team will be to listen to the grievances of disgruntled voters,” Mr Salim explained.
This apart, the party has also decided to deviate from its traditional line of campaigning in the run up to the polls: criticising the Centre or US-bashing.
“In our campaign this time, we are focusing on local issues like road connectivity, drainage system, the neighbourhood hospital or lawlessness in the locality,” said Mr Salim.
Echoing Mr Salim, a CPI(M) state secretariat member Rabin Deb said, “Shifting the focus on local issues was taken after back-to-back poll debacles because we realised that our decision to snap ties with the Congress over the Indo-US nuke deal did not cut much ice with the people.”