RSP too blames CPM policies for poll debacle

As the CPM top brass discussed the possible reasons for the defeat at its Central Committee and Politburo meet in Hyderabad,the RSP also held its two-day state committee review meeting over the weekend.

According to senior party leaders,reports from the districts showed that in the last few years,the Left Front’s huge support base in rural Bengal had deeply eroded. They said most of it had happened due to the tarnished image of the CPM as an ‘opportunist party’ far removed from the Left ideology.

The RSP leaders said they themselves were also to equally blame as they had failed to identify this rapid erosion at the grass roots level.

“Through several anti-people policies and decisions such as Singur and Nandigram,we have been far removed from the Left ideology and left alienated. There has been a strong disconnect with the people’s wishes. Most of us were more engrossed with the government’s functioning rather than addressing peoples’ concerns,” said Manoj Bhattacharya,state secretariat member,RSP.

Another senior state leader also hit out at the neo-liberal policies adopted by the previous government,saying had the decision-makers consulted them or paid heed to their advice on these issues,matters would not have been so bad.

“We have to identify the reasons behind the change in attitude from the collective to the individual at the grass roots. With a three-and-a-half decade rule,a policy of individual benefit has overridden the collective movement. To stop further disconnect,we have to strengthen our mass base and decrease our dependence on the Big Brother CPM,” said Bhattacharya.

Bhattacharya said the party would oppose in the Assembly the hurried manner in which the government had decided to table the Singur Bill in the House. Stressing that they will not hit the streets,he said the new government would face stiff opposition from the Left on the matter.