Generational shift in Bengal CPM: Buddha, other seniors retired
KOLKATA: The Bengal unit of the CPI(M) on Thursday formally effected a generational shift by “retiring” former CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and prominent members of his cabinet from the party’s newly formed 80-member state committee, bringing down the average age of members from 60.5 years to 54.5.
The decisions were announced at the end of the four-day conference of the Bengal CPI(M).
The reshuffle, as reported by Hindustan Times on March 2, is part of the ongoing process of replacing aging and ailing leaders with new faces.
In Bengal, around 300 young leaders have already been inducted in different committees in the districts.
Against the backdrop of the ongoing debate inside the CPI(M) over having Congress and other regional parties as electoral allies — a proposition strongly opposed by former CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat and leaders in Kerala — Thursday’s development was significant.
“In Bengal, the BJP and the Trinamool are our enemies. In the coming panchayat polls, CPI(M) and other Left parties will fight alongside Left-democratic forces. In places where we are not strong, we will leave the fight to other political parties and organisations that are serious about confronting Trinamool and BJP. For this, a platform can be set up without using political flags,” said Politburo member Suryakanta Mishra, who was elected state secretary for the second time.
Interestingly, this was exactly the strategy the Bengal CPI(M) adopted on the eve of the assembly polls in 2016 when it forged an electoral understanding with the Congress.
Asked whether the CPI(M) would once again forge an alliance with Congress in the state, Mishra said, “It can be anyone.”
Former finance minister Asim Dasgupta and former industry minister Nirupam Sen, the two most prominent faces of the erstwhile Left regime, retired from the Bengal state committee on Thursday along with Madan Ghosh, Kanti Ganguly, Dipak Dasgupta and Basudeb Acharya, one of the longest serving former members of the Lok Sabha. They were all made special invitees in keeping with old custom.
Most of these leaders, including the former chief minister, are also members of the central committee, which will go through a similar churning at the party congress in April.
“The central committee may bid farewell to some of them as well although the maximum permissible age in the central committee is 80 years,” said a central committee member from Bengal.
The man who survived the churning is Politburo member and chairman of the Bengal Left Front, Biman Bose.
Though 77, Bose is considered an asset by the party because of his energy and zeal.
“He wanted to retire but we find him younger than our young members,” quipped Mishra.
The youngest person to make it to the new state committee is Madhuja Sen Roy, 33, secretary of the Bengal unit of Student’s Federation of India, the party’s student wing.