India News | Mohd Salim Elected Bengal CPI Committee Secretary

Kolkata, Mar 17 (PTI) The West Bengal unit of the CPI(M), in a bid to strike a balance between experience and youth, elected politburo member Mohd Salim as its secretary on Thursday, replacing Surjya Kanta Mishra, and inducted over 20 fresh faces in the party's state committee.

The CPI(M), which failed to bag a single seat in the 2021 West Bengal assembly elections, accommodated 24 new faces in the committee at its 26th conference, with Left Front chairman Biman Bose, Mishra and veteran leader Rabin Deb making way for young leaders such as Minakshi Mukherjee, Madhuja Sen Roy, Gargi Chatterjee and Satarup Ghosh.

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Salim was unanimously elected as the CPI(M)'s West Bengal state secretary, a party official said.

Of the 80-member committee, 79 posts have been filled, he said.

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Addressing a press meet at the CPI(M) state headquarters here, after the conclusion of the three-day conference, Salim said that a number of members have been relieved of their responsibilities, given their old age.

The CPI(M) state committee had earlier decided to make 72 as cut-off age to make room for fresh blood into the party, which has been on a constant slide in West Bengal since 2009 Lok Sabha polls.

"Those who were writing epitaph of communist movement in the state, (should know) Red volunteers and other Left cadres worked hard to be with the people during the pandemic to bring back its relevance," Salim said.

He said that the party, which has seen its vote share increase in the recently concluded municipal polls in the state, has prepared a 16-point programme, which it would work on once again to become a force to reckon with in Bengal.

Claiming that the ruling TMC was "pursuing politics of violence", the 64-year-old leader said, "We want an end to jallad raj."

Octogenarian Biman Bose said that it was necessary to give space to the next-generation leaders.

Former Left Front minister Susanta Ghosh, who had spent nearly six months in judicial remand over a skeleton recovery case, said that the only way forward for the CPI(M) was to fight back.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)