CPI(M) tells panic-stricken cadres to stay home

Panic had long set in, only that it is becoming all too evident now. CPM has told cadres fearing electoral losses in West Bengal and Kerala, where assembly polls are due next year, to disassociate themselves from the party and simply stay back home.

The message is for workers who are still loyal to the party but fear a backlash in the event CPM loses elections in both the states. Initial forecast is that Left parties will lose in Kerala as well as Bengal.

However, while conveying this subtle message to prevent spread of a “fear syndrome” among workers determined to face rough weather, the CPM leadership is also making it clear that there was no ill feeling towards cadres running scared.

Party sources told DNA the message was not being conveyed through any internal note or memo but through word of mouth and only to cadres whose morale has been shattered by Left Front’s consecutive defeats since last year.

“This message is neither a warning nor a disciplinary action. The party leadership also does not doubt loyalty of such cadres. We understand that everybody does not have the same will power and mental strength. But at the same time, we do not want this fear syndrome to grip others,” a senior CPM leader said.

Party sources said of late the CPM leadership had been noticing fear in a section of loyal cadres during informal discussions. “We have often witnessed how fear in one comrade slowly grips others. We cannot let the situation snowball and hence, though painfully, we have to advice some of our comrades to retire temporarily,” the senior leader said.

The syndrome is being mostly seen in Bengal. A senior analyst in Kolkata said, “In Kerala, CPM workers are habituated to sitting in opposition, as the power scenario in that state keeps changing. But in West Bengal, CPM has never tasted the bitter pill of defeat in assembly elections since 1977, when the Left Front first came to power,”he said.