CPI(M) to bring down age ceiling for its Central Committee members
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Many party leaders believe that the CPI(M)’s new proposal on age ceiling will be ratified by the party’s 23rd Congress, scheduled to be held in Kannur, Kerala, next April
The decision of the CPI(M) to bring down the age ceiling for its Central Committee members to 75 from 80 years is expected to infuse fresh blood into the party as well as provide a huge opportunity for its post-Emergency generation leaders.
Many leaders believe that the proposal, which has been a long-overdue reform for States such as Kerala and West Bengal, will be ratified by the party’s 23rd Congress, scheduled to be held in Kannur, Kerala, next April. With this, new faces are expected to reach the upper echelons of the party’s decision-making bodies, including State and Central committees.
Had the decision come much earlier, the cadre- driven party would have had a better presence of young blood in the emerging political matrix in the country. A generational shift was witnessed in the CPI(M) in the last few years, but this was not reflected in the organisational positions, said party sources.
About 80% of the current members had come to the party after 1975. However, presently, members in the lower rungs, from branch secretaries to local committee secretaries, are in the 30-35 age group. Nevertheless, the party faces bigger challenges in the pan-Indian context, with the CPI(M) nearly wiped out in Tripura and politically gasping for contemporary relevance in West Bengal.
Also, the mechanical application of the age-ceiling formula would be a daunting task in the strongholds of the party in Kerala and West Bengal. In Kerala, the demographic transition poses another big question before the party.
Key exceptions
Sources said that the proposal would be to fix the retirement age for all members at 75 years in all bodies, including the Politburo. However, there would be exemptions for leaders holding key positions like Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who is 76.
Previously, the CPI(M) had a forum such as the Central Secretariat with young members to assist the Politburo. However, it died a natural death before it gained a solid traction a decade ago. Then the leadership also decided to maintain a status quo without disrupting the power apparatus in the party.
Sources said that the CPI(M) would have to stay closely connected to the ground realities and remain politically appropriate, which the party has been doing in Kerala. It has worked out a strategy as a single counterpoint to the BJP, and this had fetched it good electoral returns in the recent Assembly elections.
A large section of minority communities had gravitated towards the Left parties, which rather ensured the massive victory of the LDF. This was unlike in West Bengal where the All India Trinamool Congress, led by Mamata Banerjee, is taking centre stage with her stringent posture against the BJP-led government at the Centre, said the sources.
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