Bengal plenum may help revive CPI-M machinery ahead of assembly polls

KOLKATA: The CPI-M has decided to hold a four-day plenum in Kolkata from December 27, the first in Bengal in nearly four decades. The last time the Marxists held this special session in the state was in 1978, at Salkia in Howrah.

The main purpose of the December plenum is to assess the political situation in the country as well as examine party policies and make them more effective to cope with the political situation developed after the Narendra Modi government came to power in Delhi.

Though the focus will be on how to combat the Modi government at the national level, for Bengal, the plenum holds special significance as the state will go for polls a few months after the party completes the brainstorming session. Many in opposition CPI-M in Bengal feel that the session in Kolkata would help revive the party’s fragile machinery before next year's assembly elections.

The CPI-M was in power when the party held the last plenum at Salkia. A year earlier in 1977, a CPI-M-led Left Front government had come to power in Bengal and the political situation in the country was completely different from what it is now.

CPI-M sources said its central committee will meet for four days from November 2. Several state units of the party including Bengal will have their extended sessions to discuss draft resolutions prepared by the central committee for the Kolkata plenum.

This process will help party leaders across Bengal to interact with each other more frequently. The year-end Kolkata plenum will, party source said, will therefore help Bengal Marxists boost the morale of party activists to gear up for next year's assembly election.