CPI’s 25th congress to be held in Chandigarh from September 21-25 

The Communist Party of India’s (CPI) 25th congress will be held from September 21-25 in Chandigarh. Party general secretary D. Raja, first Dalit leader to occupy the position in a Left party, has headed the party for six years now. The party will be mulling on whether to continue with him as general secretary or to pick a new face.

The party congress coincides with the centenary year of the CPI, which was established in 1925. Mr. Raja, a two-term Rajya Sabha member, rose through the ranks from his days in the CPI’s youth wing — All India Youth Federation — to becoming national secretary in 1994. He took over in July 2019 as then serving general secretary Sudhakar Reddy resigned due to ill-health.

Mr. Raja turned 76 this year and has already crossed the self-imposed age limit of 75 years by the Left parties. This directive was first adopted by the CPI(M) and setting an example, senior CPI(M) leaders Prakash Karat, Brinda Karat, Subhashini Ali, Manik Sarkar, Surjya Kanta Mishra and G. Ramakrishnan stepped down from the party’s Polit Bureau after crossing the age limit.

Mr. Raja, an experienced hand, continues to be the most visible face of the party in Delhi. Asked whether he will be stepping down, he said, “It is for the party congress to decide. Our party’s constitution says that generally the age limit of 75 years has to be followed. It means there are other factors which need to be considered.”

There is a significant section from Kerala, which believes that for the party to arrest the steady decline in party’s electoral fortunes and presence in public platforms, a new leadership is necessary.

The party will also be weighing on the political situation in the election-going States — Bihar, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and West Bengal.

Mr. Raja said this party congress comes at a crucial hour, when the RSS-BJP were trying to mutate the country’s secular, democratic spirit. “They want to convert India into a theocratic state and from welfare state into a fascist state,” he said.