Battling hard to retain its base let alone spread wings, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) on Sunday chose a Sitaram Yechury as the new general secretary on the final day of its party congress. Yechury's name was proposed by the outgoing general secretary, Prakash Karat, a veteran of three terms, and seconded by SR Pillai, who pulled out of the race in the last leg to allow Yechury to be the unanimous candidate. The CPM also named a new central committee, its highest executive body, of 91 members, besides naming five special invitees and five permanent invitees, which then elected Yechury as its fifth general secretary in 50 years of history. Veteran leaders VS Achuthanandan, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya and Nirupam Sen were dropped from the central committee. "The central committee unanimously chose Sitaram Yechury as our new general secretary," Karat said. Addressing the CPM meet in Visakhapatnam, Yechury, after getting elected as the general secretary, said this is the congress of future, future of our party and our country. "Our task is to strengthen unity of Left and democratic forces. The unmistakable conclusion of this congress is that the crisis in capitalism continues to deepen in the world. There is no alternative except to strengthen the struggle for socialism. If there is any future for human civilisation, that future lies in socialism," said 62 year old Yechury, an alumni of St Stephen's College and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). "He is capable of swinging the tide in the current scenario as he among those few who are not bogged down by the dogma and can even talk with ease with the corporate," said a senior party functionary. Yechury could also kindle hope for a badly battered and bruised CPM in West Bengal as he is capable of forging alliance with the Congress in West Bengal. Some leaders from other Left parties feel that Yechury has the capability to consolidate anti-communal forces as he is at ease with most opposition party leaders and has a knack like Harkishan Singh Surjeet to bring all together on a single platform. Yechury also indicated this when he said, "The Modi government has unleashed a new trimurti -communalism, neoliberal economic policies and erosion of democratic practises. We must ensure that this trimurti unleashed by the Modi government doesn't convert into a trishul that will pierce the heart of India." "It would be interesting to see how the CPM changes its course and at the same time manages to keep its internal disquiet in check," said a CPI leader.
