For the first time in its 61 years of existence, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M), the largest Left political party in the country, has appointed a woman as its district secretary—the highest party post at the district level. This took place in West Bengal’s Bankura district, where former state minister Debalina Hembram, the party’s prominent tribal woman leader, was nominated for the position.

This is highly significant, considering that even in the so-called progressive state of Kerala, the Malayali comrades have, to this day, never appointed a woman as district secretary, let alone state secretary. The state party unit did not even make the party’s leading woman figure, K.R. Gowri Amma, the chief minister after winning the 1987 state elections, despite projecting her as the chief ministerial candidate ahead of the polls.

While the Malayali comrades are currently preoccupied with enjoying the benefits of power, their Bengali counterparts—out of power for the last 14 years—are now attempting to do what their fellow so-called progressive forces have failed to achieve. The West Bengal unit of the party has already begun projecting its young woman leader, Minakshi Mukherjee, as the party’s face. There has been no previous instance of a woman leader being promoted to this role in the state, where the party ruled for a record 34 years.

That this is no coincidence, and that the party is serious about promoting women leaders, became evident with the appointment of Debalina Hembram as the first woman district secretary.

It is truly strange that CPI(M), which has one of the largest women’s organisations, the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA), has been unable to promote women to the topmost positions at the district, state, and national levels. In the politburo, it has only two female........

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