Vijayawada meet: CPM faces yet another challenge

Vijayawada spells bad news for Indian communists. Be it 1961, 1982 or 2010, whenever they have met at the business capital of Andhra Pradesh, they have been in the throes of a crisis.

Around 380 CPI(M) leaders are reaching Vijayawada for an Extended Central Committee meeting starting Saturday — primarily to dissect general secretary Prakash Karat's handling of the party policy.

Fourteen years after 1996, when the party nearly split over differences on whether Jyoti Basu should pitch for prime ministership, the CPI(M) is in the midst of an internal storm over its decision to withdraw support to the first United Progressive Alliance. The decision is seen in a large section of the party circle as the main reason for the current downslide of the party.

Questions will be posed to the Karat lobby during the debate on the "Review Document": Why did Karat trust the Congress and allow the UPA government to go to IAEA in the first place? Why was Karat under the impression that the Congress would not move ahead without the approval of the Left? Why, through the withdrawal of support, could the CPI(M) not topple the government, let alone prevent the nuclear deal?

The withdrawal only alienated the voters as the Left parties were no longer in a position to deliver results for them through their negotiating powers. The parties was also unable to take the issue to the people and make a "quick fix" third front and had no credibility whatsoever.

In 1961, the last Party Congress (the highest decision making body that meets every three years) of the erstwhile Communist Party was held in Vijayawada. It became the arena for the ideological dual between S A Dange and B T Ranadive and finally the two communist groups parted ways and CPI(M) was born after three years. The 5th Party Congress in Vijayawada was the last one of the undivided Communist Party.

In 1982 Vijaywada hosted the 11th Party Congress. The Party Congress is very similar to this mini Party Congress of 2010 — being in the backdrop of withdrawal of support to the Union government.

In 1979, the CPI(M) central committee had pulled the rug from under the Morarji Desai government. Harkishan Singh Surjeet and P Rammurthy led the party to temporarily support the Charan Singh government along with the Congress. After one year, Indira Gandhi withdrew support leading to fresh elections. And the Congress came back to power with a thumping majority.

History beackons Karat-baiters in this region of coastal Andhra in this new millennium. The Bengal lobby along with some leaders from other parts of the country blame Karat for misunderstanding the situation in 2008 during the Indo-US nuclear deal episode and accuse the youngest general secretary of "wrong assessments".

In 1961, the squabbles had reached such a level that eventually Ranadive and company staged a walkout. The party could not even adopt a political resolution.

This time, the fireworks will be limited. Still, the third Vijayawada meet is significant as the largest communist party again feels the pressure to wriggle out of the "wrong side of history".