The CPM has instructed its area committees to ensure more persons below the age of 31 are inducted in the party to bring down the average age of its members right at the grassroots.

In a recent party letter, circulated internally and meant only for party members, area committees have been asked to focus more on the induction of women and people below the age of 31. The letter adds that progress made in this field will have to be discussed with the state committee in November 2022.

“We have already tried to rid ourselves of the allegation that we are a party of senior citizens. New and young faces have been brought to the limelight. But the practice has to be taken to the lowest levels and hence this instruction from the state committee,” a senior CPM leader said.

“A deadline has been set so that there is a sense of accountability among the heads of area committees,” this CPM veteran added.

The letter, accessed by The Telegraph, is the first such communique since the 26th state conference held in Calcutta in March this year. The conference decided to cap the age limit for members in the state committee at 72 and for those in the district committees at 70.

The cap on age resulted in CPM veterans Surjya Kanta Mishra, Biman Bose, Rabin Deb, Gautam Deb and Mridul Dey stepping down from the state committee. Fourteen new faces, including SFI’s national general secretary Mayukh Biswas, state secretary Srijan Bhattacharya, state president Pratik Ur Rahman, DYFI’s state secretary Minakshi Mukherjee and state president Dhrubajyoti Saha, were inducted in the state committee.

The CPM’s emphasis on bringing down the average age of the party and bringing youngsters to the forefront had begun ahead of the 2021 Assembly polls. In the last Brigade rally by the party on February 28 in 2021, veterans had taken a step back leaving the centre stage to the youth.

Several young faces were fielded as candidates during the poll as well. Srijan and Minakshi became two of the most talked about candidates since they were fielded from Singur and Nandigram, the two seats considered to be the reason for CPM’s downfall. SFI’s national leaders and students of JNU Aishe Ghosh and Dipsita Dhar were also fielded.

“In 2020 the percentage of members below the age of 31 had come down to 7.68 per cent from 9.09 per cent in 2019. We are doing everything possible to recover from that position,” a state leader said.

The communique asked area committees to use the members who have stepped down because of the capping of age limit. “Those who have stepped down from the different committees due to age issues must be put to use in important party work,” the letter reads with a deadline of July.

The letter also mandates hiring at least one individual in each district well-versed in handling social media on a full time basis within the next six months.