A CPI(M)-led Left Front government may be in the saddle for 32 years in West Bengal, but one of its constituents Forward Bloc feels that the dispensation has "failed" to act as a role model of Leftism and attract others to their stream of ideology.
It said the state has lost its appeal
after the government started moving along the capitalist stream in the name of modernisation and development, and people have started equating it at par with non-Left states.
The Forward Bloc, which will hold its 16th Party Congress next month in Kolkata, said it could initially attract attention of not only the rest of the country but also of the world through its pro-people Left programmes like land reforms and implementation of Panchayati Raj.
"Even after 32 years of continuous Left rule in Bengal, it has failed to act as a role model of Leftism for the rest of the country and thus to attract non-Left states towards pro-people Left ideology," its draft political resolution, to be discussed in the Party Congress, said.
The party noted that rest of the country looked upon Bengal with respect and admiration because of its pro-people policies and created a lot of interest in Leftism.
"But when the same state started moving along the stream and submitted to reforms and capitalist globalisation trend, although in the name of modernisation, it lost its unique image of pro-people Leftism and people started equating it at par with other non-Left states," it said.