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Abstentions bare CPM shadow-boxing  Karat camp hits back

J.P. YADAV

Kozhikode, April 8: Two abstentions today after Sitaram Yechury introduced the ideological resolution at the CPM congress have shed light on the quaint manner in which communists settle scores. The show of dissent — anchored on misgivings about China and North Korea being described as socialist — is being widely perceived as a strikeback from Prakash Karat loyalists to level the score after the political document piloted by him two days ago had also stirred a few voices of dissonance. Today's ideological resolution was easily adopted in spite of one vote against and three abstentions. But the abstentions brought to the fore the simmering tussle at the top on a day the congress started discussions on the draft organisational and political report to cleanse the party of bourgeois deviations. The person who voted against the ideological resolution was one of the two Andhra delegates who had raised their hands to oppose the political resolution presented by general secretary Prakash Karat on Friday. Their identity is still under wraps. But notable are the names of two of the three delegates who abstained today. They are Prasenjit Bose (the convener of the research wing of party's central committee) and Albeena Shakeel, a Delhi state party member and Bose's wife — both widely identified in party circles as Karat loyalists. Party sources have been saying the couple are being groomed personally by the Karats — Prakash and his wife, Brinda. The name of the third delegate who abstained is not known. After the voting in the morning, several delegates were heard discussing the differences between the Karats and Yechury. Some delegates felt that the dissent over the ideological document was the fallout of the differences among the top leadership. On Friday, two delegates had voted against the political resolution. Now it has emerged that two had abstained, too. The party has said the opinions of a handful of delegates from a total of over 800 could not be termed dissent. Besides, the dissent from Karat's loyalists was given an ideological hue — comrades are known to do so to camouflage personal clashes. Prasenjit and Albeena abstained as they did not agree with the ideological document that termed China and North Korea socialist countries. Both were learnt to have pointed out capitalist deviations in China and dynastic rule in North Korea to contend that they have lost the socialist character. The two also wanted the concept of "the dictatorship of the proletariat" to be included in the ideological document, the adopted version of which does not mention it. However, their abstention caught many by surprise as it was well known in party circles that despite criticising China, the CPM was not ready to take the extreme step of not recognising it as a socialist country. For decades, the CPM has looked up to China as a rising power to challenge the might of "imperialist" America. The point on which the two abstained holds significance for Bengal also since former Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee is considered to be a votary of the Chinese model and his aggressive stand on industrialisation is quoted as a reflection of it. Such a stand, however, does not find favour with the central leadership led by Karat. The ideological resolution takes note of shortcomings in China and talks about "growing inequalities, unemployment and corruption". But the document prefers to wait and watch, adding that "how successfully these contradictions are dealt with and how they are resolved will determine the future course of China". "We still consider China as a socialist country. There is no doubt about it," politburo member S. Ramachandran Pillai told reporters. "One delegate opposed and three abstained from voting on the ideological document," he added. The CPM will be left with very few countries to look up to if it discards China and North Korea. The party is also not very happy with the course being adopted in Vietnam and Cuba. It has started looking up to some Latin American countries like Venezuela and Bolivia but is not in a position to term them socialist countries as they are ruled by social democrats.