The Communist Party of India (Marxist) yesterday unanimously re-elected Sitaram Yechury as its general secretary for another three years and he pledged to take steps to oust the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Yechury’s re-election took place on the last day of the party’s 22nd Congress here.
CPM leader and former Tripura chief minister Manik Sarkar said Yechury, 65, was elected by a 95-member new Central Committee, which also elected a 17-member new politburo. Tapan Sen and Nilotpal Basu are the new faces in the politburo.
“Yechury’s election was unanimous. There was no contest,” Sarkar said.
Yechury, who has been a member of the CPM since 1974 when he joined its student wing, was first elected the party general secretary in 2015.
Born in Chennai, Yechury was educated in Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, a city where he has spent most of his life.
Re-elected to the top post a year ahead of general elections, Yechury said the CPM’s first goal was to oust Modi’s government.
He said the CPM would mount a challenge to the neo-liberal offensive aggressively unleashed by the Modi government.
“We are declaring to the country and to the whole world that we will not allow secular democratic foundations of India to be torn asunder by these communal forces and India shall remain united,” he said to thunderous applause by delegates gathered from across India.
He said he would try to fulfil the immense responsibility of this office to the best of his capability.
“If there is one message that has gone out from this 22nd party Congress, it is that the CPM has emerged united and determined to carry our the revolutionary task of putting forward alternative policy framework against ruling classes’ policies,” he said.
The Marxist leader claimed that all hopes of the ‘class enemy’ to see a weakened CPM had been belied.
He said the party was now determined to change the course of India’s destiny.
“We are embarking on a new course of intensified struggle in defence of our country and in the interest of our people, to change India for the better. Our main task today is to defeat the BJP-led government. All necessary measures are being undertaken as decided by the party Congress.”
Yechury said the party would not let India become a surrogate or junior partner to US imperialism.
The five-day conclave saw the groups led by Yechury and former general secretary Prakash Karat agreeing to amendments in the draft political resolution.
The resolution, while ruling out a political alliance with the Congress party, made it clear that it was ready for an understanding with that party. It reiterated that its first and foremost goal was to defeat the BJP.