E-Paper
Bengal CPI(M)’s relief work won’t affect 2021 polls, say rivals
They also reached out to the affected people in parts of south Bengal with food and relief materials after the devastating Cyclone Amphan hit the state on May 20.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) and its frontal organisations, especially the youth and student fronts, have distributed rations in pockets in rural and urban areas of West Bengal during and after the nationwide lockdown restrictions, which were enforced from March 25 to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak.
They also reached out to the affected people in parts of south Bengal with food and relief materials after the devastating Cyclone Amphan hit the state on May 20.
The Communist leaders said their outreach programme amid the twin calamities has nothing to do with next year’s crucial assembly polls, where the battle lines are being drawn between the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and its primary rival, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Leaders of both these parties also maintained that the outreach programme would not help the Marxists garner votes during the next year’s assembly elections.
“We’re only trying to help the affected people. This has nothing to do with elections. We collected donations from the masses to help the poor and needy. The Marxists did this even during the 1943 Bengal famine. The TMC and BJP have hit the streets with relief provided by the Centre amid allegations of rampant corruption,” said Tanmoy Bhattacharya, a CPI(M) member of legislative assembly (MLA) from Dum Dum North.
The Left Front has 23 seats in the 294 Bengal assembly, while the BJP had managed to win three seats in the 2016 polls but has since increased its tally to 16 because of defections. The ruling TMC’s strength has gone up to 224 from 211.
“Engineering defection is a common practice for both the TMC and the BJP. They will try it again before the polls. Some lawmakers will fall for the temptation, but most will stick to their ideology,” said Bhattacharya.
Senior BJP leaders, including Bengal unit president Dilip Ghosh, have often said that many leaders from other parties are eager to join the saffron outfit.
A few among those, who had helped the BJP win 18 of the state’s 42 Lok Sabha seats in 2019, had defected from the TMC. The BJP’s major vote share, however, came from Left supporters.
BJP leaders glossed over the CPI(M)’s outreach in Amphan-hit areas.
“Around 12 community block areas in the south Bengal districts are the worst hit. We’ve done more work in these areas than the Marxists. Their efforts will have no effect on the elections. The writing is clearly on the wall,” said Sayantan Basu, state general secretary, BJP.
“If you dig deep, you’ll find that CPI (M) leaders have a tacit understanding with TMC,” he added.
The TMC is unfazed by the CPI (M)’s renewed vigour.
“Our party is working on the ground and helping people. Opposition parties don’t figure anywhere,” said Jyotipriyo Mullick, state food and supplies minister.
“The Marxists’ vote share has gone down to 7% in last year’s Lok Sabha polls. It cannot get any worse. A section of traditional Left voters, who had shifted their allegiance to the BJP in 2019, may vote for the CPI (M) again next year,” said Udayan Bandopadhyay, a Kolkata-based political science professor.
CPI (M) cadres are keeping up the heat on the ruling TMC by highlighting the state government’s failure in providing employment to migrant workers, who have returned home amid the easing of nationwide lockdown restrictions, and also rampant corruption in the public distribution system (PDS), which supplies free ration to the general public.
The state government has booked 70 PDS dealers for their alleged malpractices.
