Sandeep,
May be you have some ill-motivation to put baseless allegations against CPI(M). However you may please note that CPI(M) and IKM are separate entity. The fall-out of IKM cannot be ascribed to CPI(M). The concern of CPI(M) is well known and they expressed it briefly in their political resolution adopted by its party congress. Its relevant portion is quoted below
<quote> * Science & Technology
2.75 The development of any country depends in a critical manner on its scientific and technological capabilities. In India, in the era of "economic reform", the turning away from the agenda of self–reliance has meant the downgrading of State support for science and technology. Public sector research organisations and key research programmes are being starved of funds and are suffering for lack of personnel. On the plea of bridging the gap between research and industry, government research organisations are increasingly being turned into contract research organisations, thus providing MNCs with cheap knowledge workers, instead of being allowed to set a forward–looking agenda of scientific and technological research and innovation for the Indian industry.
2.76 This trajectory needs to be reversed. Indian industry, particularly the small and medium scale sector, which provides the bulk of our employment, cannot survive if technology costs are kept high. We need indigenous development of technology to bring down the cost of advanced technology to industry and retain the competitiveness of the small and medium level enterprises. Indian agriculture also needs latest inputs from scientific research to improve its productivity. Therefore, self reliance in science and technology needs to be the focus for a developing country such as India. Currently, almost all of the public funds on R&D are concentrated with the central government and its institutions. There is a need that matching funds be allocated to state governments and its institutions also.
2.77 Open access to scientific and technological knowledge is critically important to developing nations. The information technology sector and the free software movement have shown that new technologies and methodologies can be developed by cooperative communities without monopoly ownership – either through copyrights or patents. There is a need to develop similar ways of promoting "science/knowledge commons", across many different scientific and technological disciplines, like biotechnology and drug discovery.* </quote>
You may get it from this url : http://cpim.org/xix%20cong/19%20Congress.Political.Resolution.pdf
I did not get what you mean by untapped vote bank. If you are talking about free software community, Your assumptions are totally wrong. You may take a survey on voting pattern of free software activist in India, which may enable you to get a better picture.
As a democratic organisaton, CPI(M) cannot conduct a secret meeting. It always used to publish the outcome of its meetings, which are evolved through a democratic processes, in the relevant forums.
- Keraleean