Kay Benedict

New Delhi: Despite its humiliating defeat in the panchayat elections in Nandigram, Singur and South 24 Parganas, the CPI(M) will not abandon its industrialisation policy.

Even as the party is in a bind over how to arrest its dipping popularity in the rural areas, senior leaders said the debacle was not a vote against industrialisation per se, but shoddy handling of politics by the local leaders.

Though no senior leader was willing to go on record on what steps the party is contemplating to contain the slide and strengthen the party before the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, sources said the central committee which is meeting here on May 29 and 30 will do brainstorming on Nandigram and Singur.

The Left leaders are meeting here on Friday inter alia to do a post-mortem of the UPA government’s four years in office and discuss the nuclear deal.

CPI(M)’s junior partners such as CPI, RSP and Forward Bloc are expected to use the occasion to warn Marxists that without Left unity their electoral prospects are dim.

While there was some sort of alliance in 60% of seats, in the remaining 40% RSP and Forward Bloc fielded their own candidates.

CPI general secretary AB Bardhan on Thursday said: “The CPI(M) should draw lessons from the setback.The Left Front leadership has to be more humble.”

However, the CPI(M) appears far from humbled. The party maintains the electoral setback in Nandigram and Singur was the result of a larger political conspiracy against it.

“A fear psychosis was created among the peasantry that they will lose their land and the CPI(M) is a land grabber. That is why people voted against the party,” said a party leader.

Source : DNA