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Mamata Banerjee’s national plans pose new challenge to CPI (M)
Cracks have emerged in the Left Front as its constituents have blamed the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI (M)’s election strategy, especially the decision to forge an alliance with the cleric Abbasuddin Siddiqui’s Indian Secular Front, for the latest electoral debacle
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s plans to form a coalition against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the 2024 national polls pose another challenge for the Left Front amid rumblings within the grouping following its drubbing in the March-April assembly elections. The Left Front lost power to the Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the state after 34 years in 2011. It could not even win a single seat as Banerjee swept back to power for the third time in May.
Cracks have emerged in the Left Front as its constituents have blamed the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI (M)’s election strategy, especially the decision to forge an alliance with the cleric Abbasuddin Siddiqui’s Indian Secular Front, for the latest electoral debacle. The alliance raised questions about its secular credentials even as Muslims voted for the TMC en masse.
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Against the backdrop of Banerjee’s efforts, the Communist Party of India (CPI), one of the main constituents of the Left Front, has adopted a resolution saying it will support any party or platform that challenges the BJP and considers it the main adversary. “Our central and state leadership have resolved in back-to-back meets that the CPI will support any party or coalition that treats the BJP as the main threat...wants to overthrow it. It does not matter if the Congress or TMC or regional forces such as the Samajwadi Party are in such a coalition,” said Swapan Banerjee, CPI’s state secretary.
The resolution comes as the TMC has tried to reach out to Congress even as the latter contested the assembly elections with the Left parties. In 1996, the CPI (M) prevented Jyoti Basu, the then Bengal chief minister, from becoming the Prime Minister and also refrained from joining the United Front government at the Centre. The CPI joined the government, and its leader Indrajit Gupta became the Union home minister.
Observers have cited the 1996 experiment and said joining an anti-BJP platform or supporting one may help in the revival of Left parties.
Banerjee has also asked the Left parties and Congress to decide who their main adversary is. “The Congress and the CPI (M) are responsible for what has happened to them in Bengal. They have to decide who is their principal enemy. Is it the TMC? Or it is the BJP?” she asked after meeting Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in Delhi this week.
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Naren Chatterjee, the state secretary of the Forward Bloc, a constituent of the Left Front, said If Banerjee wants an anti-BJP platform, she should give more space to parties opposed to communal politics and capitalist imperialism. “Can we expect our candidates in the coming municipal and panchayat polls to get a level playing field?”
Manoj Bhattacharya, the state chief of the Revolutionary Socialist Party, another constituent of the Left Front, said it is too early to read much into Banerjee’s intentions. “What she is planning may ultimately help (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi. It is too early to predict or take a call.”
CPI (M) state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra this month focused his attack on the BJP and said voters were confused during the March-April polls. His party earlier accused the BJP and TMC of having a secret understanding. On July 27, CPI (M) leader Asok Bhattacharya told a TV channel that voters saw the TMC as the real anti-BJP force.
On Wednesday, CPI (M) Central Committee member Sujan Chakraborty said there is no doubt the BJP is the main enemy but there is no question of having an understanding with the TMC. He blamed the TMC for bringing BJP to Bengal.
Academic Udayan Bandopadhyay said the CPI (M)’s stand against the TMC has no strategic or ideological basis. “In the 2011 polls, when the TMC ended the Left’s 34-year-long rule, the BJP’s vote share was 4%. In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP secured 17% votes because Left supporters voted for the BJP. The same thing happened in 2019, when votes that the Left lost went to the BJP. It is time for the CPI (M) to realise that TMC has been recognised as the only anti-BJP force in Bengal.”
