Wrong to single out Pinarayi Vijayan for taking moral responsibility for poll defeat: CPM | India News

New Delhi: CPM On Monday, General Secretary MA Baby said that singling out the outgoing Chief Minister of Kerala is wrong Pinarayi Vijayan To take moral responsibility for the defeat in the state after 10 years in government. His comments came after the CPM’s polit-bureau meeting, where the Kerala assembly election results were discussed.“Pinarai Vijayan should be singled out for taking moral responsibility for the defeat in Kerala. Our party is a collective entity. He is the most senior member of the polit-bureau and the central committee. When we went to the polls as a collective we said that he is leading the campaign and if we get a majority we will decide who will be the chief minister during his address,” Baby said.“No single comrade should be held responsible. We, the leadership, will evaluate the poll results in detail, reach out to people at all levels of our organization, look at the leadership’s shortcomings and role as a collective. We will self-criticize and take corrective measures and initiate rectification process,” he said.Baby’s comments assume significance as they come at a time when Kerala is in serious turmoil, with the centralized leadership model described as ‘Brand Pinarayi’ and the election campaign surrounding his rule facing criticism. However, the CPI(M) has been refuting all the criticisms, maintaining that “cult politics” has no place in the party and that the campaign was not a one-man show.Highlighting the overall impact of assembly elections across four states and one UT, Baby said the “rise of right reactionary forces” in most places except Tamil Nadu is something that secular and democratic forces need to take note of with all seriousness.Even in Kerala, Baby pointed out that the LDF’s defeat was a serious blow to the Left and democratic forces. He said the LDF government had done commendable work for 10 years “in the face of a very vindictive attitude of the central government which tried to strangle the state government financially”.“The reasons why LDF suffered this setback in Kerala is a serious concern. Another worrying development in Kerala is that BJP managed to win 3 seats and LDF came second in these seats. This was worrying in a state like Kerala which is very famous for its secular and democratic tradition,” he added.He added that the party’s central committee will meet from May 22-24 to conduct an in-depth analysis of the poll results, including the situation related to the polls in Kerala and West Bengal.Calling Vijay’s TVK’s victory in Tamil Nadu spectacular, Baby shared that CPM, CPI and other friendly parties have managed to take a very timely stand to avoid horse-trading and ensure that people’s verdict is respected.On why the CPM chose to give outside support and not join the government in Tamil Nadu, Baby said, “We have 2 MLAs, CPI and VC also have 2 MLAs. We won these seats as part of the DMK front. Now it (TVK) is another political formation.” People’s verdict is in favor of TVK. Political morality in the given circumstances demands that it is not right for us to decide to join the government,” he said.” The CPM general secretary also said that all three parties have been invited to join the TN government.“As a party we believe that to be part of the government we have to have enough numbers to have a say. So, we have backed our position very logically. We are inside the democratic process but outside the government in Tamil Nadu,” he added.To drive home the point that the CPM puts its ideology and principles first, Baby recalled that in 1996 when then West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Bose was offered the post of prime minister, the party’s central committee decided against accepting the prime ministership to lead the United Front government. The CPM then took the position that the party felt that participating in a “bourgeois” coalition government at the Center, without its own majority, would prevent them from implementing left-leaning policies.Although many seniors, including the then general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjit, supported Bose, a strong hardline faction within the party voted against the move. Although Bose tacitly accepted the party’s decision at that stage, he later referred to it as a “historic mistake” and a missed opportunity for Indian communists to influence national politics.