Richa Sharma By

HYDERABAD: The CPI (M) seems to be losing its appeal among the people with membership of the party falling to its lowest since 2014. According to the party’s organisational report, membership dropped by nearly 6 per cent in 2017, the highest in the party’s history.

The report circulated to party delegates at the 22nd Congress here expressed concern at the decline in the party’s appeal among the youth and women. Almost every State has witnessed the decline, including West Bengal where the party ruled for decades.

The only exceptions are Kerala and Tripura, where there was a slight increase.

The membership in other states is also not comforting for the party that is facing a shrinking voter base and recently lost the Assembly elections in Tripura after ruling the state for 25 years. The report holds importance as the top party leadership is divided over having a front with other secular parties, including the Congress, to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2019.

The party membership by the end of 2017 stands at 10,12,021 compared to 10,76,123 in 2016. In 2016, the party reported an upward trend with 27,445 new members joining the party but it took a nose dive in 2017.

The 21st party Congress at Vishakhapatnam had also flagged the declining party membership and expressed concern over the party failing to attract youth below the age of 30 in numerous states. The party’s target for 2017 was that one-fourth of its members across all states should be below 30 years.

But clearly, the party seems to have failed to achieve that. The overall membership of women across various party fronts such as farmers and workers’ unions saw an increase of 2.74 lakh in 2017 against the previous year. But, the party could not reach the target of having 25 per cent women membership.

Kerala and Tripura are the two states where membership has increased, with 4,63,472 and 97,990 members respectively. The party membership in West Bengal stands at 1,95,952 in 2017 compared to 2,56,709 in 2016. In Tamil Nadu, it has come down to 93,7809 from 1,03,049 the previous year.

According to a senior CPI (M) leader, a stringent process of renewal of party membership is one of the reasons for drop in numbers.

The party in 2015 had called for a correct approach towards recruitment of party members. The state units were told to follow criteria of no loose recruitment, ensuring auxiliary group functioning, maintaining quality of membership and cleansing party of inactive members.

The renewal of party membership to be based on five criteria — payment of membership fee and levy, regular attendance in branch meetings, satisfactory participation in party classes, political campaigns and in agitations and struggles, becoming a member and active participant in mass front work unless exempted by the party and regular reading of party organs and subscribing to them.