The Hindu : Front Page : CPI(M) State panel recognises Achuthanandan's role in victory

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jun 05, 2006

Front Page

Front Page

CPI(M) State panel recognises Achuthanandan's role in victory

Special Correspondent

Adopts review report, feels more seats could have been won

V.S. Achuthanandan gets credit for LDF victory

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After two days of stormy discussions, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) State committee on Sunday adopted its election review report acknowledging, among other things, the role played by V.S. Achuthanandan in the Left Democratic Front's sterling win in the just-concluded Assembly elections.

"The campaigns waged by the Left Democratic Front, the CPI(M) and various class and mass organisations during the last five years, the struggles waged by the Opposition and its leader Comrade VS within and outside the Assembly, the discontent and anger against the anti-people and oppressive UDF rule that grew up cutting across political lines, the wrong and anti-people policies of the UPA Government and the sharp discrimination experienced by the minorities were all factors behind the LDF's victory," a CPI(M) State committee release issued at the end of its meeting here said. The election review report was adopted after a stormy discussion on the draft presented to the committee by the State secretariat and, according to party insiders, after incorporating changes acknowledging the prominent part that Mr. Achuthanandan's candidature had played in the LDF's victory.

The release quoted the election review report as saying that while the LDF's victory was creditable, more seats could have been won with a little more attention and care.

The release also quoted the report as urging the party cadres to remain vigilant against certain tendencies alien to a working class movement creeping into certain levels of the LDF and CPI(M).

The report noted that unlike in the other elections, several organisations, individuals and groups had voluntarily entered the fray in support of the LDF's victory, the release said.

The CPI(M) State committee noted that the Assembly election was marked by reduction in the distance that various minority communities had maintained towards the Left.

The minorities had been forced to change their stand because of their painful experiences during the United Democratic Front rule and the firm stand the CPI(M) and the LDF had adopted against the U.S. aggression against Afghanistan and Iraq.

The United Progressive Alliance, on the contrary, had adopted a disgraceful stand on these issues. The anti-imperialist sections of the population, particularly the minorities, had taken these factors into consideration when adopting an open stand supporting the LDF.

The CPI(M) leadership also pointed out that the Bharatiya Janata Party suffered serious setbacks in all the five Assembly constituencies where it had put up a strong showing in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections.

The BJP had degenerated into a party engaged in vote sale and the opportunistic tie-ups that the UDF had entered with it had resulted in the latter's miserable defeat, the BJP's collapse and the Muslim League's isolation.

It was also noteworthy that the DIC(K) could win only one seat. No election in recent times had seen so many frontline leaders of a ruling alliance getting defeated.

The most prominent leaders of the Muslim League, Democratic Indira Congress (Karunakaran), Congress, Janadhipathya Samrakshana Samithy and the Communist Marxist Party were defeated. There was much in this election outcome for all political parties to learn from, the report said.

The LDF, it pointed out, won 8,38,525 votes more as compared to 2001. This was the best victory that the LDF could score in the last quarter century.

"The people have great expectations about the new LDF Government. The Government has the responsibility to function with a responsibility and commitment to ensure that the people's expectations are not belied. But, at the same time, the people must also be taught about the limitations of the LDF Government," the report said.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail