CPI(M) to discipline former leader’s daughter for article on Mamata Banerjee
CPI(M) leaders have been facing a major embarrassment since Wednesday when Jago Bangla started printing a four-part series on women empowerment in Bengal politics written by Ajanta Biswas.
The West Bengal unit of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M), is all set to take action against Ajanta Biswas, daughter of former state secretary Anil Biswas, for writing an article highlighting chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s role in women empowerment, which was published in Jago Bangla, the daily mouthpiece of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC).
The article, which appeared on Saturday, projects the chief minister as a nonconformist while arguing that the firebrand leader played a historic role in state politics and ensured empowerment of women and movement at the grassroots level.
Biswas is a member of the CPI(M). She will be asked to explain why she wrote it. The party will decide its action after examining her reply, CPI(M) leaders told HT.
CPI(M) leaders have been facing a major embarrassment since Wednesday when Jago Bangla started printing a four-part series on women empowerment in Bengal politics written by Biswas, who is an associate professor of history at Kolkata’s Rabindra Bharati University. The articles were prominently carried on the editorial page.
Biswas has not been active in politics ever since her father died in 2006. Before that, she was a prominent face of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) unit at Presidency College (now a university) where she studied. The SFI is the students’ front of the CPI(M).
While her first three research-based pieces highlighted figures such as Basanti Devi, Sarojini Naidu, Suniti Devi and others from the pre and post-Independence era, the last one focused entirely on Mamata Banerjee.
The agitation Banerjee led against farmland acquisition for the Tata small car plant at Singur in Hooghly district contributed largely to her landmark victory against the Left in 2011, the last article said. The Left Front’s 34-year-long rule ended that year.
Revered by CPI(M) workers to this day, Anil Biswas was one of the most successful strategists against the TMC. It is widely believed that the TMC managed to build up successful movements after Biswas died in 2006. He was also the editor of Ganashakti, the Bengal CPI(M)’s daily mouthpiece, and a bitter critic of Banerjee.
“A CPI(M) local unit in Kolkata will ask Biswas to explain why she wrote for the TMC’s mouthpiece. This has created a stir in the party. Usually, a member is given a week to reply to a show-cause notice. But given the nature of the situation, she will be given less time,” Kallol Majumdar, secretary of the CPI(M)’s Kolkata district committee, told HT on Saturday night.
Breaking her silence after three days, Biswas told the media that her articles were based on research. “I am proud to be the daughter of Anil Biswas. It is my family identity. As a professor of history, I wrote the article (on Banerjee) in view of her contribution to politics and her role in empowerment of women,” she said hours before the CPI(M) decided to take action against her.
TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh, who has known Ajanta Biswas for many years, said, “The articles are based on research and should not be seen in the light of the current political scenario. The show-cause notice shows why the CPI(M)’s tally in the state assembly has reduced to zero. The party will soon cease to exist.”
Now the state president of the TMC’s trade union front, Ritabarata Banerjee was general secretary of the SFI and a CPI(M) Rajya Sabha member before he was expelled in 2017 on disciplinary grounds.
“I am not surprised at all. The CPI(M) is known for its history of issuing show-cause letters. Anyone who does not bow before the leadership faces action,” Banerjee said.