The decision of the CPI(M) to bring down the age ceiling for its Central Committee members to 75 from 80 is expected to infuse fresh blood into the party and provide a huge opportunity for its post-Emergency generation leaders.
Many leaders believe that the proposal, a long-overdue reform for States such as Kerala and West Bengal, will be ratified by the party’s 23rd congress, scheduled to be held in Kannur, next April. With this, new faces are expected to reach the upper echelons of the party’s decision-making bodies, including State and Central committees.
Had the decision come much earlier, the cadre-driven party would have a better presence of young blood in the emerging political matrix in the country. Though a generational shift has been witnessed in the CPI(M) in the last few years, this is not reflected in the organisational positions, say party sources.
About 70% to 80% of the current members have come to the party after 1975. However, at present the lower rungs, from branch secretaries to local committee secretaries, are in the 35 to 45 age group. Nevertheless, given the bigger challenges the party faces in the pan-Indian context, the CPI(M) needs a new generation of leaders at the State and national level. Failure to do this earlier, was partially the reason for the party getting nearly wiped out in Tripura and politically gasping for relevance in West Bengal.
Still, the mechanical application of the age-ceiling formula would be a daunting task in the strongholds of the party in Kerala and West Bengal. In Kerala, the demographic transition poses another big question before the party, but age and experience also matter in the complexity of the political situation.
Key exceptions
Sources say that the proposal would be to fix the retirement age for all members at 75 in all bodies, including the Polit Bureau. However, there would be exemptions for leaders holding key positions like Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who is 76.
The CPI(M) had experimented a young leadership in forums such as the Central Secretariat to assist the Polit Bureau. However, it died a natural death before it gained a solid traction a decade ago.
Ground realities
Sources say the CPI(M) would have to stay closely connected to the ground realities and remain politically appropriate, which the party has been doing in Kerala. It has emerged as a single counterpoint to the BJP, attracting the youth from all communities and this had fetched it good electoral returns in the recent Assembly elections.
A large section of minority communities have gravitated towards the Left parties, which rather ensured the massive victory of the Left Democratic Front in elections. This is unlike in West Bengal where the All India Trinamool Congress, led by Mamata Banerjee, is taking centre stage with her stringent posture against the BJP-led government at the Centre, say the sources.
