Clamour for change in CPM

“These leaders have lost contact with the masses. They are old and unable to generate new ideas. They are unable to protect the comrades. They should quit immediately,” said Subhanil Chowdhury, who was in-charge of the party’s social networking platform, before being expelled last year.

“We are not here to weaken the Left or CPM. We feel the leadership should be changed as it has repeatedly failed. There is no democracy in the party,” said former party leader Prasenjit Bose, who was expelled in 2012 for questioning the party’s decision to support Congress’s presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee.

The expelled leaders will sit on a dharna at Esplanade on Sunday, he added. Those leading the protest included branch committee secretary Tanvir Ahmed and local member Sumanta Mukherjee. Other leaders who spoke at the rally include former CPM minister Abdur Rezzak Mollah.