Ranchi: The oldest party of united Bihar, the Marxist Coordination Committee (MCC), will now be known as the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist). Founded in 1971 by AK Roy, a three-time Member of Parliament from Dhanbad, MLA, and trade union leader, the MCC has a strong base among working-class people in the Dhanbad, Bokaro, and Ramgarh districts. While the CPIML has a strong presence in Giridih and Koderma, political scientists believe that after the merger, the party will become a significant force in the Chotanagpur region.
History and present situation
Although the MCC currently has no MLA in the Jharkhand assembly, it has either won or secured the second position in the Nirsa and Sindri assembly segments of Dhanbad. Similarly, the CPIML has won six consecutive times from Bagodar and either won or remained the runner-up from Dhanwar in the last two elections. Recently, the CPIML has become a force to reckon with in Bihar, winning 12 assembly seats in the 2020 assembly polls and two parliamentary seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
On Saturday, after their formal merger, MCC Central Committee General Secretary Haldhar Mahto and CPIML MP Raja Ram Singh announced an Ekta Rally in Dhanbad on September 9.
“The merger took place in line with the vision of our party’s founder, AK Roy. He believed that not only should the working class remain united, but there should also be unity among Left parties. This merger will make CPIML impactful in at least 20 assembly segments in Jharkhand,” Arup Chatterjee, a former MCC legislator, told eNewsroom.
He added, “Since the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha merged with the BJP, there has been a need for left parties to unite and offer a strong fight.”
Unity of Working Class
When asked if this merger would strengthen the INDIA bloc in Jharkhand, CPIML General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya told eNewsroom, “If it strengthens the ML or the Left, it naturally strengthens the INDIA bloc. The Lok Sabha results made it clear that the BJP (NDA) still had a distinct edge in the non-tribal areas of Jharkhand. The coal belt naturally calls for special attention. The struggle for coal nationalization was also an important part of the Jharkhand movement.”
The CPIML General Secretary also mentioned the working-class perspective in the merger, stating, “Under AK Roy’s leadership, a strong working-class unity was forged in the coal belt areas, linking Adivasis, other local (indigenous) people, and coal workers at large. That unity and spirit of struggle need to be reinvoked in today’s context of the battle against privatization and corporate plunder. This will reinvigorate the spirit of the Jharkhand movement as a whole. The merger of MCC with CPIML can hopefully facilitate this process.”
Realizing dream of AK Roy
Manoj Bhagat of CPIML further elaborated, stating, “It is a step against fascism. Because of the BJP’s anti-people policies, people are looking to the communist parties. AK Roy had formed the MCC for coordination among like-minded parties, and he did not make it a party. So this is a step in the right direction. The kind of work Mr Roy was doing to connect Dalits, Adivasis, and indigenous people in South Bihar (North Chotanagpur) was similar to what CPIML was doing in North Bihar. This work will further accelerate, fulfilling the dreams of the MCC’s founder.”
“It should also be seen as the uniting left forces against fascist BJP, as we had initiated consolidation of anti-fascist forces which were later christened as INDIA bloc before Lok Sabha polls,” he added.
Now ML will be a major political force in Chotanagpur
“The merger will have a significant impact on the Chotanagpur area. After the Ekta Rally, the people of Jharkhand will notice it,” claimed CPIML MLA Vinod Singh.
Amit Raja, a political analyst who has closely observed both MCC and CPIML leaders, including AK Roy, described the merger as historic. “With the merger, AK Roy would now be among the founders of CPIML. This merger will have a bigger impact as it is the union of two similar ideologies and like-minded political parties. The merger of JVM into BJP was an act of political opportunism. JVM was anti-BJP, and as long as it existed, it opposed BJP’s style of politics, so BJP did not get strengthened by it.”
“This is a merger not just for political outcomes but to strengthen the working class and trade unions in the industrial belt of Jharkhand,” Raja pointed out.
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