Md Salim appointed West Bengal State Secretary of CPI(M)  

His elevation to the top post is crucial at a time when party is focusing on representation and wants to bring in more young people

Communist Party of India (Marxist) Polit Bureau member Md Salim was on Thursday appointed as the West Bengal State Secretary of the party. Mr. Salim will replace veteran CPI(M) leader Surjya Kanta Mishra.

Mr. Salim, who was had represented the party in both houses of Parliament and was a Minister in the Left Front government, was unanimously chosen for the post at the State Committee meeting. With the party focusing on bringing in more young people and giving representation to all kinds of linguistic and regional minorities the elevation of the Md Salim is crucial.

“The State committee has 80 members keeping one slot vacant we have elected 79 members. A large section of State committee members have retired and new members have been elected,” Mr. Salim said. The CPI(M) leader said that crucial issues like age, and representations based on gender and different ethnic and regional groups have been considered in the new committee. According to sources in the party, the CPI(M) State Committee had 24 new names which is nearly 30% of the entire committee. DYFI State secretary Meenakshi Mukherjee and SFI State secretary Srijan Bhattacharya had been included in the State Committee of the party.

Speaking to presspersons at the party Alimuddin Street headquarters, Mr. Salim lauded the role of the party in reaching out to the people during distressing times of COVID-19 pandemic. “Along with the rampant corruption we have to fight the political corruption of leaders switching side from BJP to TMC,” the new State Secretary of the party said.  The three day State Committee meeting of CPI(M) began on Tuesday and concluded on Thursday. Senior CPI(M) leaders like Prakash Karat and party general secretary Sitaram Yechury participated in the committee proceedings.

Mr. Salim takes the responsibility when the CPI(M) is facing a difficult political situation in West Bengal. In the 2021 Assembly polls, the party failed to win a single Assembly seat. The results of the civic bodies where the Left Front got marginally better votes than BJP can, however, provide some encouragement to party supporters.