Explained: 21, The big one

It is a conclave of CPM delegates selected by the party’s state units across the country. Ordinarily, the Congress meets once every three years to review the political and organisational functioning of the party, and determine the broad party line. An Extraordinary Party Congress may be called by the CPM Central Committee at its discretion, or when demanded by two or more State Committees representing not less than a third of the total party membership.

What else happens at the congress?

The delegates discuss and approve the political and organisational report — a key document that is in many ways the performance appraisal of the leadership at all levels. Only a party Congress can revise and change the party programme and its constitution. At the end of the conclave, the delegates — 749 this time, apart from 80-odd Central Committee and 15 Politburo members — elect the Central Committee which in turns elects the Politburo and General Secretary. As per the party constitution, the General Secretary’s election should be through a secret ballot; however, the General Secretary has always been chosen by consensus.

Why is the 21st Party Congress significant?

The CPM is in crisis. Its numbers in the Lok Sabha is down to a single digit, and its greatest challenge is to remain relevant. All eyes are on the successor to Prakash Karat, who has been General Secretary since 2005. There have long been divisions in the Politburo — and Karat and Sitaram Yechury have sometimes not been on the same page. Yechury is in the race for the top post with S Ramachandran Pillai, who is known to be a Karat loyalist. Whoever gets to be General Secretary for the next three years will lead the party to key Assembly polls in West Bengal and Kerala in 2016.

The Congress will also review the political line the CPM has followed since 1978. And the party is again faced with the question of identifying its number 1 political enemy — communal forces or neo-liberal policies. In other words, it has to decide whom to target the most — BJP or Congress.

What are the main challenges?

Failure to attract youth, dwindling membership, eroding relevance at the national level, and the inability to expand outside Kerala, Bengal and Tripura are the obvious challenges. The immediate test is West Bengal, where the BJP seems to be gaining ground and the Trinamool Congress retains its mass appeal. The big problem in Kerala is the intense factionalism in the party. The party has already decided to convene a plenum, a special conference, later this year on organisational issues. The last plenum on organisation was held in 1978 in Salkia.