The Communist Party of India (CPI) in Bihar marked the centenary of its national unit's foundation on Friday, but the celebrations in Patna were overshadowed by a significant internal upheaval. The event took place against the backdrop of the recent removal of 13 senior party functionaries from key state bodies, a move that has exposed deep-seated tensions within the party's Bihar unit.
A Major Organizational Reshuffle
The dramatic purge occurred during a two-day state council meeting held in Sheikhpura on December 18. In a sweeping decision, the party leadership removed eight senior leaders from the state secretariat and five others from the state executive committee.
The eight leaders expelled from the state secretariat include former MLAs Rajendra Singh, who also served as a former state secretary, and Awadhesh Rai. The list further comprises Jabbar Alam, Om Prakash Narayan, Rambabu Kumar, Nivedita, Vijay Kumar Mishra, and Prabha Shankar Singh.
Those shown the door from the party's executive committee are Jitendra Kumar (the state chief of Jan Sewa Dal), Akhilesh Kumar, Brijmohan Singh, Sudhir Sharma, and Sushila Sahay.
Controversial Appointment and Accusations of Purging Dissent
Adding to the controversy, the party inducted Raushan Kumar Singh, a functionary of the All India Youth Federation (AIYF), into the state executive. This appointment flouts existing party rules that prohibit anyone holding an office in a central organization from being part of the state executive.
Insiders within the CPI have characterized the large-scale removals as a "purging of dissenters." The ousted leaders had reportedly raised serious questions about the state leadership's management of the party's interests during the Grand Alliance in the recent Bihar assembly elections.
Their primary contention was that after being allotted six seats in the alliance, the CPI should not have engaged in "friendly contests" in four additional seats against its own Grand Alliance partners. They argued that this strategic misstep resulted in electoral losses in all ten constituencies the party contested, leaving it without a single victory.
Calls for Accountability and an Absentee General Secretary
Sources indicate that the disgruntled leaders also demanded that the current state secretary, Ram Naresh Pandey, take responsibility for the mishandling of party affairs and resign from his post. They drew a parallel to former national general secretary Sudhakar Reddy, who resigned following the CPI's poor performance in the 2019 parliamentary elections.
Amidst this internal crisis, the foundation day centenary function saw a notable absence. CPI general secretary D Raja, who was slated to be the key speaker, did not attend the Patna event citing a "prior programme."
The ceremony, presided over by State Secretary Pandey at Abhiyanta Bhavan, proceeded with speeches from national secretary and state incharge Girish Chandra Sharma, Jabbar Alam, and Pandey himself. The leaders emphasized the need to strengthen the party organization and expand its reach through mass outreach programs, even as the party grapples with the fallout from its drastic internal reorganization.
