CPM Haunted by Three Ghosts and a Missing Link

The West Bengal unit of the CPM is meeting in Kolkata in a conference ahead of the all-important party congress in April. In the confabulations ending on Friday, three issues from the past have surfaced, though not loudly.

The CPM prides itself on its inner party democracy but the three ghosts from the past could not have been comfortable for general secretary Prakash Karat who is present at the discussions since Monday.

One of the issues is expulsion of Somnath Chatterjee. At least one member of the party's North 24 Parganas district unit has suggested that the CPM should consider inviting the expelled former Speaker to return to the party, according to sources. Mr Chatterjee was nine-time CPM MP with just one break in 1984 when he lost to Mamata Banerjee.

He became Lok Sabha Speaker in 2004 when the CPM gave outside support to UPA government. In 2008, when the Left withdrew support over the Indo-US nuclear deal, the CPM named him as one of its MPs who would vote against the Manmohan Singh government in the no confidence motion. Mr Chatterjee refused.

The Manmohan Singh government survived the vote but the CPM expelled Mr Chatterjee for violation of party discipline. It's a decision that many in the party are still debating.

The second ghost haunting the CPM even today has links with the first - the withdrawal of support over the nuclear deal. Many in the Bengal unit of the CPM still feel that withdrawing support to the UPA on the issue was not well thought out.

It cut little ice with the voters in the next election. It also paved the way for Trinamool's Mamata Banerjee to join the UPA and leverage her position there to snatch a stunning victory in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, winning 19 out of 42 seats. In 2004, Trinamool had won just one seat, that of Mamata Banerjee's.

The third ghost is Jyoti Basu's prime ministership, something the CPM did not allow in 1996. Mr Basu had later famously called the decision a "historic blunder" but, toeing the party line, he had also said it was "a closed chapter". But more than one delegate at the ongoing CPM state conference has said that no chapter in history is ever closed. Discussion on the issue cannot be stopped.

As for the missing link, it is something that has the CPM confounded. The Mamata Banerjee government has handed out one issue after another over which it can be attacked, starting with the Saradha chit fund scam. But the CPM has not been able to make capital out of it. 'Why?' is the question that the party is trying to thrash out and find an answer. They have just one more day to go.