We are under attack in West Bengal, says CPI-M resolution

VIJAYAWADA - The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) has admitted that the party is facing “an unfavourable situation” in the party-ruled states of Kerala and West Bengal after suffering reverses in the Lok Sabha elections.

Both the states are likely to go for polls in mid-2011.

“The party is under attack in West Bengal where it has suffered electoral reverses,” says the draft political resolution of the CPI-M presented before the four-day extended central committee meeting began here Saturday.

Describing West Bengal as its strongest base, the draft resolution said “after the Lok Sabha elections, the Trinamool Congress-led combine has launched an offensive against the party.”

“In this, it is being aided and abetted by the Maoists who are targeting party cadres, members and supporters. Since the panchayat elections when there was some erosion of support among certain sections of the rural masses, the Trinamool Congress-led combine has been concentrating its attack in the rural areas,” it said.

The CPI-M said the attack on the West Bengal party and movement is being aided by imperialist agencies.

“This multi-pronged attack (in West Bengal) is meant to weaken the entire Left movement in the country,” the draft political resolution said.

The CPI-M-led Left Front has been in power in West Bengal for more than three decades.

Seniormost CPI-M leaders including Prakash Karat, Sitaram Yechury and M.K. Pandhe are among the 366 representatives participating in the conference. Senior CPI-M leader and Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan is not attending the conference as he is undergoing ayurvedic treatment.

The resolution said the party has to resist these attacks by mobilizing the people.

Asking the West Bengal government headed by Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to implement developmental programmes, the resolution said: “Steps are being taken to remove the organizational shortcomings and to reforge links with the people.”

“The entire party fully stands behind the West Bengal unit and will strive to mobilise democratic opinion all over the country against the killings and violence perpetrated on the CPI(M) by the Trinamool Congress-led anti-Communist combine and the Maoists,” the resolution said.

In Kerala, the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) is consolidating the “communal and reactionary forces” behind it, says the resolution

“Tripura is the exception where the party has strengthened and consolidated its base,” says the resolution.