West Bengal is considered the heart of the left movement in general and CPM in particular, the state which would go to polls next year. Kerala assembly elections are also due next year. The stakes for the party in both the states are very high because any adverse outcome would spell a doom for the CPM in the country as a whole.

It was but natural that the party devoted most of the time during the four days (Aug 8 - 11) to a 'serious and widespread' discussion on West Bengal and Kerala affairs. A separate four-page resolution was also passed by the ECC on the steps needed to be taken for 're-forging' links with people and thwarting the attempts of 'reactionary forces' to wrest power from the Left.

The detractors were simply disappointed who were waiting for 'inner struggle' within the party. Nothing happened like 'ugly infighting' as we generally witness in other political parties in India. The CPM general secretary Prakash Karat successfully pushed through his agenda and the party rallied behind him, with the dissenting voices falling silent.

The four-day closed door session, as party sources said, also witnessed 'hot-discussions' on the falling fortune of the CPM under the leadership of Prakash Karat at central level and under Buddhadeb Bhattacharya in West Bengal, but both of them by and large did not have to face much 'the ire of the other party leaders.'

However, it is in itself a mystery as to why Buddhadeb skipped both the inaugural and concluding ceremonies of the ECC meeting though he remained in the city for four-days for the closed-door sessions.

May be it due to his own fear of appearing in 'open-door sessions' which would have been embarrassing for him because the party had identified its 'shortcomings' in West Bengal which were related to politics, party organisation and governance in the state.

The ECC has resolved and recommended some steps for the West Bengal unit which included but not limited to 'Re-forging links with people' by countering the 'vilification campaign' of the 'reactionary forces' led by 'prime enemy' Trinamool Congress. It was thought to be the panacea for the party in the state. However, the statements of the politburo members and the leaders Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechuri had clearly underlined the worries about the prospects of losing power after three-and-a-half decades. The emphatic confidence were certainly not present in their statements. 'Losing elections is not unnatural. We never look at electoral gains,' Karat maintained while Yechury did not want to 'presume' the outcome of West Bengal polls next year.

The 24-page political resolution passed on the occasion opposed the 'neo-liberal economic policies' of the UPA government at the centre. The resolution also opposed the Indo-US nuclear deal and many other policies and programmes of the Union government led by Indian National Congress. In brief, CPM endorsed the tactical line chalked out by it leadership to step up attack on policies of the Manmohan Singh government.

Party reviewed the political developments since the last Party Congress in 2008 and concluded that the decision to withdraw support to the UPA government over the Indo-US nuclear deal was “correct and necessary”. However, it was of the view that the withdrawal of support could have been earlier at the time when the UPA government decided to proceed to IAEA.

The resolution emphasized on fighting the 'communal forces' and “combating the Maoists”. It felt that the ultra-left movement had 'degenerated into anarchic violence'.

The Party resolution stressed on breaking the 'strategic alliance' between India and USA.

'Stepping up the struggles' for the cause of the common people has also been included in the political resolution.

Other salient features of the political resolution were the inclusion of numerous other national and international issues like the international political situation, global economic crisis, climate change, electoral reforms in India, Centre-state relations in the country, the worsening situation in Jammu and Kashmir, the demand for a separate Telangana and other states etc.

The resolution has mentioned the 'nexus' of big businesses houses and political leaders. It said that media has lately been corporatised and the “corporate media” is now indulging in prejudicial role.

The regional political parties and their “attitude” vis-à-vis the left has found special mention in the political resolution which hints at their efforts for the possible non-congress, non-BJP political alternative in the country, which is yet to be realized. Many experiments of such alternatives in the past has been miserably failed, and some of them proved to be non-starter. The party also acknowledged that the CPM failed in putting up an effective all India non-Congress , non-BJP alternative at the time of the Lok Sabha polls in 2009.

Left unity, as usual, has also found mention in the political resolution.

Eleven 'tasks' has been enumerated for the party ahead of the Party Congress next year to regain its lost ground in the country including Left ruled stated. These tasks included taking on the Congress and the policies pursued by UPA; fighting the BJP in states ruled by it; expanding in other parts of the country where the Left has a feeble presence; and reviewing the land acquisition policy. 'Struggles' on all issues was found as the main solution for its predicaments. (EOM)