The by-elections made one thing clear beyond any significant doubt – the CPI (M) is facing an unprecedented downfall in India. People have given a clear mandate against the politics played by the CPI (M); it is another matter whether they will accept the defeat or not. Biman Bose, West Bengal State Secretary accepted it; CPI (M) leader and Kerala Chief Minister, VS Achuthanandan did not.
A strong anti-left wind is blowing in West Bengal owing to the governance failure of the government there and the emergence of the Maoists who are committed in bringing violence in the state. Trinamool Congress Chief Mamata Banerjee is effectively utilising the anti-left wave to her advantage and is not leaving any stone unturned to make sure that the left is losing its hold in the state. Of the 10 assembly seats that went to poll on 7 November, the left front was able to win only in 1 seat, where Forward Bloc won. The major party in the left front, CPI (M), lost in all 5 seats that they contested. They got their greatest blow when they lost in East Belgachia, a seat hold for many years by late Subhas Chakravarty, which was contested this time by his wife. The losses have made the left front more vulnerable than ever before, where some ministers and party leaders have already asked for dissolving the assembly and go for early polls. One of the coalition partners in the Left Front, Socialist party, raised the issue through their leader and Fisheries Minister Kironmoy Nanda. Other coalition partners like CPI, RSP and Forward Bloc said that the issue will be discussed in the next meeting of the left front.
Land struggles in Nandigram and Singur have had a great impact in the imminent fall of the 33 year old edifice of Communist government in West Bengal. The chaos over Tata’s Singur plant had been instrumental in bringing an anti-government feeling in the state. It was very skilfully exploited by Mamata Banerjee and her TMC. The Maoists who are spread over various states in the Country, known as the “red corridor”, have been very active in the state of West Bengal. Though only in three districts do the Maoists have strong hold, they are violently active in the state and have been instrumental in creating a strong anti-government sentiment in the state. The left government in WB is caught in a predicament between controlling the Maoists and containing anti-government sentiment among the public.
In Kerala, the situation is entirely different where the heavy loss faced by the Left Front in the Parliament election and the by-polls is mainly because of the inability of the government in providing good governance in the state. Adding to their woes is the general arrogance displayed by the various leaders of the party. By their diatribes against Bishops of the Catholic Church, the CPI (M) leaders, headed by State Secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, have distanced the Christian community from them. The general governance in the state is dismal, the law and order situation is pathetic and the development efforts are in a moribund state. Another feature of the CPI (M) in Kerala is their inability to accept that they have faulted in various fields. Instead they are still going on criticising the media and threatening the individual voices that have raised genuine concerns. (In this regard it would be sensible to note the life threatening mail that I recently got from one of the anonymous cadres of the CPI (M) – someone with an email id priyaprem90@gmail.com for criticising the party policies)
Some left front leaders in the state have made pledges that they will bring about a big change in the style of governance in the state in the next 15 months. They feel that, by doing so, they can resurrect their ailing fortune before the general assembly election that is due in 2011. The state committee of CPI (M) is meeting now in Trivandrum where they are supposed to discuss the rectification document made by the Polit Bureau that is intended to overcome shortcomings within the party and to remove the “wrongs” at all levels of the party.
It is imperative for the party, in the national level and state level, to change the status quo and bring back communist norms and values to the party leaders and cadres, if they have to have some realistic chances of regaining lost ground in the country. They should also accept the fact that the political strategies initiated by their leaders like Prakash Karat at the national level and Pinarayi Vijayan and Budhadev Bhattacharjee in the state level, have all resulted in fiasco. It would also be good, if the party discuss the reasons why they are not able to become a strong force in the various states of the country, other than West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura, in all these decades, where as certain parties with less historical backgrounds have become forces to reckon with. In this regard, the CPI (M) would do good to study the growth of BJP as a national party within two decades of its formation.
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