Internal differences in Left come to fore n
KOLKATA: The death of ten-time Lok Sabha member and former speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Monday brought to forefront the differences between the West Bengal unit and central leadership of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), from which he was expelled a decade ago.
In 2008, the CPI(M) brass had asked Chatterjee to resign from the Lok Sabha Speaker’s post and vote against the UPA government in the trust vote. When he refused to comply, the party, then under the leadership of Prakash Karat, expelled him for life.
On the CPI(M)’s website, the party’s politburo posted a press release after Chatterjee’s death in which he was referred to as a veteran parliamentarian, eminent lawyer, former Speaker and tentime member of the Lok Sabha. It did not say which party he belonged to. The press release was placed next to the link “related article: Somnath Chatterjee’s false assertions” that was posted in 2010, accusing Chatterjee of making “false statements” regarding his expulsion.
In contrast, the Bengal unit postponed the scheduled meeting of its state committee after paying homage to Chatterjee and issued a statement that referred to him as a “comrade” and “former central committee member and Lok Sabha MP of the CPI(M).”
On its part, Chatterjee’s family refused to let Bengal CPI(M) wrap his body in the party flag.
“I don’t know what the politburo has said in its statement. The Bengal state committee has paid its tributes. Somnath Chatterjee was much above the internal matters of the CPI(M),” CPI(M) Bengal secretary Suryakanta Mishra said.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, CPI(M) leaders said the party brass’ failure to bring Chatterjee back into the Left fold played a key role in alienating many of their voters.
“Our vote share in Assembly polls slipped from 30.08 per cent in 2011 to 19.75 per cent in 2016... Today our image took a serious blow,” a senior Bengal state committee leader said on condition of anonymity.
“In a way it was good that my father was expelled. Had he been in the party today, the state of the CPI(M) would have only given him immense pain,” Anulekha Basu, Chatterjee’s daughter said.