CPM Fights to Keep Pratik Ur Rahman
By KUNAL CHATTERJEE
In the heart of Kolkata's Alimuddin Street, where CPM's state headquarters buzzes with heated debates, a young leader from rural Diamond Harbour has thrown the party into crisis. Pratik Ur Rahman, a rising star from a poor Muslim family, stunned everyone with a resignation letter that cut deep. He cited frustration with the district and state leadership's ways, wanting out, not just from committees, but from primary membership altogether.
For over 24 hours, the party reeled. Whispers of his potential departure overshadowed even a fresh row over State Secretary Mohammad Selim's meeting with JUP’s Humayun Kabir. Then, veteran leader Biman Basu stepped in like a grandfather pulling a wayward kid back home.
On Tuesday, Rahman confirmed he'd spoken with Bose and was summoned to the state office. "I'm thinking about it," he said, but skipped Alimuddin that day. With a state secretariat meeting Wednesday and committee session soon after, all eyes are on whether he'll show.
Why the panic to keep him? Pratik isn't just any face, he's a two-term ex-president of the party's student wing SFI, a fighter who took on Trinamool Congress heavyweight Abhishek Banerjee in the last Lok Sabha polls and even got beaten up for his opposition stand.
Coming from the margins, scraping by with his wife and kids, his story screams CPM's old ideals, rising from the working class against odds. Party insiders fear his exit sends the wrong signal to Bengal's Muslim voters, especially as leaders like Selim hold top posts. "He's from the class we claim to fight for," one South Bengal CPM voice said privately. "Losing him hurts our image."
It's a sore spot. CPM documents lament a creeping "middle-class mentality" over decades, with few frontline leaders now from truly marginalised backgrounds, barring folks like Ramchandra Dom, Devlina Hembram, or Nirapara Sardar. History stings too as minority stalwarts like Saifuddin Chowdhury, Mainul Hasan, and Abdus Sattar quit over the years.
Rezzak Mollah from Pratik Rahman's own South 24 Parganas district jumped to Trinamool and became a minister. In Murshidabad, where Muslims are 70% and CPM eyes a 2026 assembly breakthrough, past demands for local leadership (like Jamir Mollah's recent role) highlight the stakes.
Rahman's allies say he's grilled the party on key issues, without answers, even a Biman Bose chat might not sway him. Some whisper rival factions are stoking switch rumours to rattle him, politics, after all, thrives on possibilities. But for now, the "fighter" from Diamond Harbour holds the cards.
