His own party — the CPI(M) — might have sidelined him. But V S Achuthanandan — the octogenarian chief minister of Kerala, has eventually found a place in the international arena of communism.
And Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee — once the ‘poster boy’ of communist governance in a capitalist society — will miss a chair as his party organises the 11th Communist and Workers Parties International Meeting to discuss a rescue path from the international capitalist crisis.
The CPI(M) and the CPI will be hosting what is arguably the communists’ equivalent of Christmas in the national Capital, with 87 delegates from 55 parties from 47 countries. This will be the first time this event is being held in India. All previous meetings were held in Greece.
“You may wonder why the communists want to find a solution to the problem of capitalism. But this financial meltdown has resulted in severe job losses and plight for workers. On the one hand, the financial institutions that were bailed out by the US government have registered a super profit but, on the other hand, unemployment figures have reached their highest point in the US,” Sitaram Yechury, prominent politburo member of the CPI(M) and one of the main organisers of the event, told reporters.
Yechury, however, tried to downplay the fact that the West Bengal CM will not be a part of the CPI(M)’s delegation in the international event. “The Left Front chairman will be representing Bengal. Both of them can’t come as there are a host of issues to be tackled in the state,” Yechury defended.
But inclusion of Achuthanandan in the list of delegates might also indicate that the octogenarian — “Mr Clean of Kerala” — was difficult to ignore as the party projects its best faces. Along with Prakash Karat, Sitaram Yechury, M K Pandhe, Manik Sarkar and Biman Bose, ‘VS’ too finds his place, although he was thrown out of the CPI(M) politburo on charges of “indiscipline” and “violating organisational principle” just four months ago.
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Achuthanandan is one of the last few surviving founder members of the party. He joined the CPI(M) when it broke away from the CPI in 1964.
Communists from India and Pakistan, Israel and Palestine, the US and North Korea will share space with each other. But Yechury insists no issues of bilateral contention will be discussed in the forum.
“We will discuss alternatives to the current capitalist policies and the role of communists and working class movements,” he stressed.
Six months ago, in the country’s general elections, the CPI(M) tried to project the same issues — alternative economic policies against the loopholes of the UPA’s “neo-liberal economics”. It resulted in the party’s worst ever performance since inception. The Indian communists are not ready to change their policies — they only want to shift from one venue to another.