The CPIM is looking ahead to a regeneration of the party in West Bengal, seeking to adopt a ‘Kerala model’ with a ‘bottom-up’ structure where change would begin from the grassroot level. A total of 15 members from West Bengal were elected to the CPIM’s Central Committee.

Speaking on the sidelines of the 23rd Party Congress in Kerala, the West Bengal CPIM secretary Md. Salim said that the party is adopting several measures for its regeneration in Bengal where the Kerala model will be its aim.

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He said, “For the past many years, the structure of development has been top-down but now it has to change to bottom-up where changes need to be made from the grassroot level and eventually create an environment where people can live up to their expectations and choice. The cocktail of corporate politics, crony capitalism, and religious fundamentalism needs to be removed. India needs an inclusive economy, not an exclusive one.”

He further said that the Mamata Banerjee government in the last decade has allegedly created an atmosphere of terror and torture leading Bengal to darkness. “We need to protect the basic tenets of the constitution which is allegedly under threat by the fascist forces in the form of BJP and in Bengal, the TMC. “These two parties are the same. What is today’s TMC is tomorrow’s BJP and vice versa.”

Commenting on whether the Nandigram and Singur incident had cast a shadow on the party in Bengal, he said, Nandigram and Singur incidents were orchestrated by Mamata Banerjee with help of her former aide and now BJP leader Suvendu Adhikary, and the late Maoist leader Kisanji. It was a hoax to deceive people and curtail Bengal’s dream of growth and development.”

A total of 15 party members from West Bengal have been elected to the CPIM’s Central Committee. The names are Md Salim, Surya Kanta Mishra, Tapan Sen, Nilotpal Basu, Ramachandra Dome, Sridip Bhattacharya, Amiya Patra, Rabin Deb, Sujan Chakraborty, Abhas Roy Choudhary, Rekha Goswami, Anju Kar, Samik Lahiri, Deblina Hembram and Sumit Dey.

Meanwhile, Md Salim highlighted that the decision of the Calcutta High Court to let the CBI probe the murder of Bhadu Sheikh, alongside Rampurhat arson that killed eight people, was welcomed by the CPIM which believes that these two cases are interrelated and unless probed together, justice will be denied as Mamata Banerjee government is allegedly trying to suppress evidence.

“This has been our demand since the Rampurhat arson. Our lawyers had been pushing for the same. However, the state’s advocate general and centre’s additional solicitor general kept asserting that Bhadu Sheikh’s murder need not be included in the CBI probe. This proves that TMC and BJP work hand in glove.”