Karat, Yechuri join the pantheon, figure in CPI(M) cut-outs

In the land of Rajnikanth, even the CPI(M) finds itself in the grips of the cut-out culture. For a party where promotion of personalities is prohibited, this time, there is a sea change in the mindset.

Throughout Coimbatore, the rich industrial city of Tamil Nadu, huge vinyl prints of CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat and leaders like Brinda Karat or Sitaram Yechuri, smile down at passers-by.

That the CPI(M)'s 19th Party Congress is underway and that these people are prominent leaders of the party can simply not be ignored.

In the past, for grand occasions like the Party Congress, the poster boys of the party have never gone beyond the three bearded men "" Karl Marx, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and Friedrich Engels. On occasion the heavy-moustached visage of Joseph Stalin in his green uniform could also be spotted.

However, during the last Party Congress at Delhi in 2005, the CPI(M) started having living personalities in banners and posters. But the limelight was restricted to the two patriarchs of the party "" Jyoti Basu and Harkishan Singh Surjeet. They are the only two surviving members of the first politburo of the party formed in 1964 at Kolkata.

But at Coimbatore, the times have changed. Brinda Karat and Captain Laxmi Sehgal greet visitors outside the railway station. The banner in Tamil welcomes the delegates at the party summit.

Another banner of the duo has been strategically placed in front of a private hotel where the Politburo and Central Committee leaders are staying. Throughout the city, Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechuri's pictures appear along with Marx and Lenin. At Noori Road, a huge cut-out profiles Yechuri and P Umanath, another Politburo member.

Not just the Politburo members, the three chief ministers are also projected along with faces of Jyoti Basu, Surjeet and stalwarts like EMS Namboodiripad and A K Gopalan.

The party has raised over Rs 1 crore as donations from individual households for this meet. Rs 45 lakh was collected in Coimbatore East district.

Another collection of over Rs 30 lakh came from the adjoining Coimbatore West district, while Rs 29 lakh has been collected from Tiruppur district. While most of the money has been used for boarding and travelling expenses, a substantial chunk has been spent on advertising given the way the CPI(M) has flooded the city with posters and banners.

Some party leaders are not happy at the way present leaders have been glorified. They blame it on the Tamil Nadu state unit, the third largest unit after Kerala and West Bengal, and the prevalent cut-out culture of a state steeped in films.

At the party's 9th Congress held in Madurai in 1972, delegates were asked to bring their own bedding and had to sleep on the floor. Thirty six years later, the party enjoying power in three states has learnt the power of publicity.