CPM general secretary at the Visakhapatnam airport on Monday for party's national conference. (Press Trust of India)
Facing sharp erosion in its support base in recent years, the biggest party of the Left Front, the Communist Party of India (CPM), has said that it will reach out to the marginalised sections of the country.
"The party will actively take up social issues and fight for the rights of the women, adivasis, Dalits and minorities," said CPM general secretary Prakash Karat.
Though the party claims it has always been at the forefront when it comes to the fight for rights of minorities, here is a reality check: In the past 50 years of CPM's existence, there hasn't been a single Dalit or tribal member in the party's highest decision making body, the Politburo. So far, only one woman leader, Brinda Karat, has entered the Politburo and that too a decade ago.
Minority representation too has been minimal. Right now, only M A Baby - CPM leader from Kerala - represents the Christian community and in the earlier Politburo, Mohammed Amin was a Muslim face. "We have had Comrade Surjeet as our general secretary and he too was from the minority Sikh community. But as communists we didn't quite believe in these religious and caste divide," said a CPIM delegate at the party congress in Visakhapatnam.
But social realities like caste in India can hardly be ignored by a political party. In fact, in the context of socially disadvantaged groups like Dalits, tribals and minorities, the latest political and organizational report of CPIM says, "There is an extreme mismatch between the social composition of total party membership and the composition of the higher committees in some states."
Asked why the party ignored caste realities, Ms Karat said: "This was possibly true of us about 20 years ago when we would look these issues as issues of poor people. But for two decades or more, we have working for specific target groups such scheduled castes, tribals, minorities among others."