Tripura CPI(M) claims party lost 60,000 members after BJP assumed power in state

The Communist Party of India (Marxist), on September 22 claimed that the party lost over 60,000 members after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in the state in 2018.

The CPI(M) had ruled Tripura for 35 years in two phases.

Addressing a meeting organised in memory of the party's general secretary Sitaram Yechury at Udaipur in Gomati district, Tripura CPI(M) secretary Jitendra Chaudhury said, "The party had over 98,000 members before the 2018 assembly elections but it has now come down to 37,000".

He further added that the party membership might have crossed the 1.50 lakh mark if the Left Front could retain power in the 2018 elections.

"Now, the number of members stands at over 37,000. Since 2018, we have lost more than 60,000 party members in the state," he said.

Chaudhury said he did not repent for losing over 60,000 members but the CPI(M) needs to "introspect why all current members are not actively joining the party programmes".

“I don’t regret losing so many party members since 2018. The CPI(M) had only 6,500 members when it won 56 seats in the 1978 assembly elections for the first time in the state. A golden chance has emerged in the state with people rapidly losing faith in the BJP-led coalition government," he said.

Chaudhury appealed to party members to come forward to "utilise the people’s anger against the BJP-led government and take advantage of the prevailing political situation".

The CPI (M) has 4,000 branches, 304 local committees, 24 sub divisional panels and eight district-level committees in the state.

The opposition leader in the assembly claimed that the CPI(M) legislators had performed their duties in the recently concluded session by putting pressure on the treasury bench over various issues- unprecedented floods, law and order, crime against women and unemployment.

Chaudhury, while paying tribute to Yechury, said he was instrumental in shaping the INDIA bloc ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, which had succeeded in enhancing the opposition’s representation in the Lower House of Parliament.
(With PTI inputs)