The Left movement in the country has a new head in the form of experienced parliamentarian MA Baby – who has a long history of political engagements in the CPI-M, the largest among the left parties. Baby’s selection was finalised by the party’s politburo and ratified by the central committee at the party’s 24th ‘Congress’ held in Madurai. Baby succeeds Sitaram Yechury, who held the general secretary post for 10 years but passed away in September last. Notably, the recent years were disastrous for the party. A set of old leaders, now mostly past 70, sat tight at the helm of the party for long, refusing to stand aside or rejuvenate it with young blood. Notably, from the Communists’ high aura as the principal opposition in Parliament around the 1960s, it had won power in three states – Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura repeatedly – until the Trinamool Congress ousted it from West Bengal and the BJP did so in Tripura. The CPI-M holds its head high in Kerala, where it along with the weak CPI runs the Left Democratic Front government.
While Baby has considerable political experience and parliamentary innings, the choice on him was made amid reports that another senior leader, Ashok Dhawale from Maharashtra, was proposed for the post by the West Bengal leadership. Dhawale, from the Maratha stock, is president of the party’s farmer outfit, the All India Kisan Sabha, and also functioned as the state CPI-M chief, zealously organising peasants and making a major mark at the state and national levels. He was unlike the other top brass of the CPIM, whose activities were limited largely to media appearances. They showed less interest in organising mass struggles of the poor and the laid-back peasantry. Little wonder, Dhawale failed to “impress” them. Baby, with able backing from the Kerala party and chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, crossed the hurdles and emerged winner.
Communism in India has earned a poor reputation in recent years for its abject failure to fight for the causes of the poor, the downtrodden and the disadvantaged segments of the society. Instead, even in Kerala, it plays communal card to retain power and win elections. The over 30 years of the Communist rule in West Bengal, in the final analysis, undercut the state’s economic development. This hurt all segments of the society. Mamata Banerjee reaped a rich political harvest from the Left’s failures there. In Tripura, the native tribes felt let down under the long CPI-M rule and turned against it. While the party remains strong in Kerala, it is accused of being a plaything in the hands of vested interests. Corruption accusations are directed not just against chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan but against several party leaders across the board. The repeated terms in power there naturally corrupted the party wholesale. Restoring strength to the down-and-out Left at the national level will be a herculean task for 71-year-old Baby.