Yechury Re-elected as General Secretary, CPI(M) 23rd Party Congress Concludes

Kannur: The 23rd Party Congress of the CPI(M) held in Kannur re-elected Sitaram Yechury as its general secretary to lead the communist party in the country for another tenure of three years. The vanguard party of the working class in India has also elected an 85-member central committee with 17 new members, and a 17-member Politburo to lead the party at the national level. 

Yechury, who enters his third tenure as the general secretary of the CPI(M), has been leading the party since 2015. He was first elected as the commander in chief of the cadre party at the 21st Party Congress held in Visakhapatnam, in 2015. The former student leader from JNU has also served as a member of Rajya Sabha from 2005 to 2017. A prominent face at the forefront of struggles against the anti-people, anti-worker policies and the Hindutva offensive of the BJP-RSS, Yechury has played a significant role in bringing together the opposition parties at the national level. 

Apart from Yechury, senior leaders Prakash Karat, Manik Sarkar, Pinarayi Vijayan, BV Raghavulu, Brinda Karat, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, MA Baby, Surjakanta Mishra, Muhammad Salim, Subhashini Ali, G Ramakrishnan, Tapan Sen, Nilolpal Basu, A Vijayaraghavan, Ramachandra Dom, and Ashok Dhawale constitute the newly elected Politburo. A Vijayaraghavan, Ramachandra Dom, and Ashok Dhawale are the newcomers in the Politburo; whereas, veteran leaders S Ramachandran Pillai, Biman Bose and Hanan Mollah were relieved from the executive body. The three veteran leaders were included as special invitees to the central committee. 

A Vijayaraghavan and Ashok Dhawale, members newly elected to the Politburo, have been working as the all-India presidents of Agricultural Workers Union and All India Kisan Sabha respectively. Vijayaraghavan has been serving as a member of the central committee of the CPI(M) and the convenor of the Left Democratic Front in Kerala. He has also served as the CPI(M) state secretary in-charge for a brief period, when Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, Kerala state secretary of the CPI(M) went on leave for medical treatment. During his tenures as a member of Rajya Sabha in 1998 and 2004, he was part of various committees in Parliament.

Ashok Dhawale’s contribution was instrumental in bringing together the farmers’ organisations that led the historic struggle in Delhi. Dhawale, who hails from Maharashtra, took up a leading role in organising the iconic Kisan Long March, which marked the beginning of a series of agrarian agitations in the country. Dhawale, an MBBS qualified doctor, has also practised medicine from 1976 to 1983, before leaving the field to earn an MA in political science and joining as a full-timer with the party. He has also served as the all-India vice president of the Students Federation of India, state president of the Democratic Youth Federation of India and the state secretary of the CPI(M) in Maharashtra.  

Dr. Ramachandra Dom, who hails from Birbhum district of West Bengal, is also an MBBS graduate from NRS Medical College, Kolkata. A progressive leader from the Dalit Community, Dom was associated with the Indian Medical Association, People’s Science Forum in his formative years. He has served as a member of Lok Sabha from 1989 to 2009. He has also worked as a member of parliamentary committees on public health and family welfare. He was elected to Lok Sabha from Birbhum constituency in West Bengal in 1989, 1991, 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2004 and from Bolpur constituency in 2009. He was the chief whip of the CPI(M) in the Lok Sabha.

In the 85-member central committee, 17 are new faces. Fifteen women were elected to the highest body of the CPI(M). Rajendra Singh Negi and Sanjay Parate were elected as permanent invitees to the committee.  

The Congress also condoled the death of M C Josephine, a central committee member from Kerala, who succumbed to a cardiac arrest while attending the congress. Josephine was admitted to hospital following a severe heart attack on Saturday. She died on Sunday afternoon. She has served as chairperson of Kerala State Women's Commission from 2017 to 2021. She has also worked as the vice president of All India Democratic Women's Association.

Thickly Packed Jawahar Stadium hours before the massive rally. 

Kannur has set the stage for a massive rally and gathering at the Jawahar stadium. M V Jayarajan, CPI(M) district secretary said in a press conference that about two lakh people are expected to attend the valedictory event. Yechury, the general secretary of the party, accompanied by Politburo members will receive the guard of honour at a red-volunteer parade, where 2,000 will march in red clad. Kannur town is flooded with Left cadre, and sympathisers from across the state, who have come to witness the organisational strength of the party.