Tuesday, Apr 12, 2005
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By Our Special Correspondent
The newly-elected Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary, Prakash Karat, with his predecessor, Harkishan Singh Surjeet, and Jyoti Basu at the 18th Party Congress in New Delhi on Monday. — Photo: Sandeep Saxena
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, APRIL 11. For 56-year-old Prakash Karat, his home State, Kerala is little more than a destination for political activity. Not for him the frills of family get-togethers and ceremonial gatherings in his home village in Palakkad. Every time he has visited Kerala in recent times, he has been welcomed by red flags fluttering in the wind and not by events and symbols that make such visits journeys down memory lane. And, if one were to speak about Mr. Karat's links with Kerala, more of it would have to be about two towering personalities of the Indian Communist movement: A.K. Gopalan and E.M.S. Namboodiripad. Mr. Karat owes his political upbringing to these two illustrious sons of Kerala. Mr. Prakash struck his roots deep into Communist life and action through his close association with Gopalan and learnt the intricate dimensions of ideology and polemics from EMS who found in him and Sitaram Yechury, two brilliant minds, who could be groomed to take over the reins of the party. Mr. Karat's election as party general secretary is also significant in that it marks the transition of leadership from those who grew up with the revolutionary struggles of the pre-independence days to a generation that was born in post-independence India. Mr. Karat is the youngest general secretary of the CPI(M), the second person from Kerala to head the biggest Communist movement in the country, the first being his illustrious mentor, EMS, who served as the party general secretary from April 1978 to January 1992. EMS was first elected general secretary of the CPI(M) at the 10th party congress held at Jalandhar. He was re-elected to the post at the 11th party congress held at Vijayawada, 12th party congress at Kolkata and the 13th party congress at Thiruvananthapuram. Although Mr. Karat has become the party general secretary, Kerala's representation in the party Polit Bureau has dwindled with the death of E.K. Nayanar and retirement of E. Balanandan. Known in party circles as `Swami', Balanandan has been a major voice in the country's trade union movement. One who rose in the ranks of the party from the working class, Mr. Balanandan was an important component of the party centre for long. There has also been an indirect loss to Kerala with the retirement of another PB member, P. Ramachandran. A Keralite by birth, Mr. Ramachandran has for long lived and worked in Tamil Nadu and become a PB member representing the CPI(M) Tamil Nadu unit. There are three leaders in the Polit Bureau representing the Kerala party: V.S. Achuthanandan, S. Ramachandran Pillai and Pinarayi Vijayan. There is one new entrant to the party Central committee from Kerala, the CPI(M) State secretariat member, E.P. Jayarajan. T.K. Ramakrishnan, who has retired from the committee, would continue to attend its meetings as a special invitee. One position has been left vacant in the committee for a representative from Kerala. The party MLA, T.K. Balan, has been made a member of the party Control Commission.
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