Thomas Isaac says CPI(M)‘s connect with people has weakened, stresses need for humility
Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] Central committee member T.M. Thomas Isaac, who contested the Lok Sabha election earlier this year from Pathanamthitta, has said that his party failed to read the sentiments of the people.
At no stage could the party see an anti-Left wave at work, he wrote on . When the polling percentage fell, the assessment was that the loss was for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the United Democratic Front (UDF). But the post-poll analysis showed many Left votes had not been polled. It was thought barring five constituencies, the front would notch up a winning margin in all others. But the defeat showed that many traditional Left Democratic Front (LDF) voters had voted for the UDF and the BJP, Dr. Isaac wrote in the post critical of the Left front and his party.
Why the assessments had gone wrong was a serious issue to be addressed, he said. Either there is a failure to gauge the sentiments of the people or the people are unwilling to give candid opinion. Either way, this is a big departure from tradition. The connect with the people had weakened considerably, wrote Dr. Isaac, arguing that arrogant, high-handed behaviour was alienating the party from the people. “This is at all levels in the party.”
He quoted Mao Zedong to say that Communists working among the people should be like fish in water. They should behave with humility. Dr. Isaac also criticised the laxity in overseeing the running of cooperative banks and said corruption was increasing even in local bodies. The party had passed a course correction document foreseeing such aberrations when the Left government received the mandate to continue in power. But there was a need to see to what extent the correction had been carried out, he wrote.
In the olden days, creative and studious people got drawn to the Communist movement. This was the reason for Communist hegemony in Kerala’s cultural sphere. But the situation has changed now. The youth and students prefer to stay apolitical, and their world is of social media, not traditional media. But the Left’s influence in that sphere is limited. He pointed to the need to discuss such things at all levels and welcomed the unusual practice of holding discussions and collating suggestions at the district level for the road ahead as part of election outcome review. The party will listen to criticism from all quarters. Dr. Isaac ended the post by exuding confidence that the party would bounce back as “it is foolish to think that shifting of votes from the Left to the BJP in some areas is permanent”.
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