CPIM CONGRESS ALLIANCE

For the upcoming Assembly Election in West Bengal Congress is forming an alliance with Left
Front. The ruling Trinamool Congress however, seems to be "least bothered" about this
. As per TMC's general secretary, Subrata Bakshi: "We are least bothered about the alliance.
We are bothered about the development work that has been done by us. Those, who are
trying to forge an alliance, has been rejected by the masses."
In the general elections of 2014 the vote share of the ruling Trinamool Congress was 39.8
percent. The Left Front (comprising the CPI(M), CPI, FB and RSP etc) got 30 percent and the
Congress got 9.5 percent only.
Now, with the state Assembly election knocking at the door, a clamour for an alliance against
the TMC is growing within both Left parties and the state Congress leadership. The clarion call
for the alliance came from former chief minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee on 16 January at
Singur. Flagging off a march from Singur to Salboni, Bhattacharjee issued an open appeal to
the Congress to join hands with the Left Front to defeat Mamata Banerjee's TMC in the
Assembly election due a few days later.
The Save Democracy Forum, a civil society organisation, under the chairmanship of former
Supreme Court judge Justice (retd) Ashok Kumar Ganguly, has also urged the formation of
such a coalition to oust the TMC from power. The PCC president Adhir Ranjan Choudhury
promptly responded by saying that the workers at the grassroot-level in his party are
demanding the same thing. He will now apprise the Congress high command of the
development and await their decision.
Similar demands were being voiced now by a number of CPI(M) and state Congress leaders.
At Salboni, after concluding the 170-kilometre-long seven-day march that started in Singur,
the CPI(M)'s state secretary Suryakanta Mishra addressed an impressive rally on 22 January,
where he said that the need of the hour was to form a broad-based front against the TMC.
The Congress will have to take a call on whether or not it wants to join.
HISTORY
In the early years of post-Independence politics, the Communist Party of India (then
undivided) used to brand the Congress as a party representing the interests of the bourgeoisie
and the feudal class. Since the Congress was in power at the Centre for a long time and also
in a number of states, the Communist Party had no hesitation in declaring it as its main enemy.
But, the scenario became complex with the advent of BJP. The Left sometimes adopted a line
of going soft on the Congress while branding BJP as enemy number one, as happened during
the 2004 General Election.
So much so that the CPI(M) had no hesitation in forming a loose coalition with the Congress
in the post-election scenario that facilitated the UPA-1 government to come into being. But
after snapping its relations with the UPA government in 2008, the CPI(M) went back to its
earlier position of keeping a safe distance from both the BJP and Congress. Now, the Bengal
leaders, after suffering successive electoral defeats at the hands of the TMC, are trying to
change their party line.
Current Scenario
The new slogans "Trinamool Hatao, Bangla bachao" (Defeat the TMC and Save Bengal) and
"BJP hatao, desh bachao" (Defeat the BJP and Save India), paving the way for a possible
alliance with the Congress, were raised by none other than Bhattacharjee in his address at
Singur rally. For the last four years, both the Congress and the CPI(M) have been suffering
heavy erosion in their respective organisations as the ruling party aggressively engaged the
Opposition in a bloody turf war, where the local police and armed goons are acting in cohesion
with, and at the behest of the ruling party workers.
Thousands of workers and sympathisers of both the Left and Congress have already been
forced to flee their areas many more have joined the TMC. A significant number of CPI(M)
workers and sympathisers have become idle. The situation came to such a pass that during
the 2014 elections, the Left couldn't put up agents in a vast number of booths in south Bengal.
There were several occasions where the ruling party workers were seen capturing booths
after chasing away Opposition party agents. Protests or complaints to the Election
Commission observers did not change the situation.
On the other hand, the TMC leaders through their words and actions made it amply clear that
they were not interested in having a free-and-fair poll.
The following year, ie in 2015, when elections for the Siliguri Corporation were being held,
the opposition resorted to a different tactic. The CPI(M) leader Ashok Bhattacharjee and
district Congress president Shankar Malakar came to an understanding that they would have
to join forces to resist TMC activists attempting to capture booths. The slogan "Nijer vote nije
dao; anyoke dite debe na." (Cast your own vote, don't allow other people to cast your vote)
became very popular among the voters of Siliguri. The BJP also joined the campaigned, thus
a popular movement was built against the culture of booth-capturing.
When the election results were made public on 28 April, 2015, it was found that the CPI(M)-
led Left Front was way ahead of TMC and other parties. Eventually, Ashok Bhattacharjee
became the mayor of Siliguri. A few months later, the Left Front got a similar result in the
Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad elections. Nabendu Guha, a veteran journalist, who has worked
for many years in Siliguri, observed that while the initial understanding was to put up a united
resistance to the TMC in thwarting any attempts of booth-capture, it was gradually noticed
that a more subtle understanding had been developed at the grassroot-level.
The CPI(M) and the Congress saw to it that wherever their candidate's prospect of a win was
suspect, they did not campaign much in those wards, instead allowed the other party to have
a free run in the election. Emboldened by the success in Siliguri, the demand for an electoral
alliance started raising its head in party circles in Kolkata. From the Congress side, senior
leader Abdul Mannan from south Bengal, started demanding that the Congress rethink
its election strategy and close ranks with the Left to oust Mamata from power.
In a fortnightly publication edited by him, Mannan argued in September that if the US and
Cuba could put an end to their long enmity and resume normal relations, what was the harm
in reaching out to the Left against the TMC?
But this idea only got momentum after the Bihar elections.
Mannan is optimistic about this, and though bed-ridden after two successive surgeries, he
hopes, along with other state-level leaders, to take part in the meeting with Rahul in Delhi on
1 February. While a majority of Congress leaders in Bengal are pinning their hopes on this
possible alliance with the Left, a few leaders are unhappy about that. Manas Bhuniya is one
such leader. A Congress MLA from West Midnapur's Sabang constituency, Bhuniya is
interested to see the resurgence of the TMC-Congress alliance that was in place during 2009
Lok Sabha elections and 2011 Assembly elections.
Addressing a party workers' conference on Monday at Sabang, he said, "Many things are
being said in support of this alliance. But I would ask you to uphold the Congress flag and
march forward.''
While the talk of this possible alliance is steadily gaining ground, TMC leaders including their
supremo Mamata are getting nervous and edgy.
Realising that a Left-Congress combine can really impact the poll prospects of the TMC
negatively, the leaders started questioning the efficacy of this alliance. Mamata has started
attacking the Opposition by calling it ''unprincipled and opportunistic'' alliance. Subrata
Mukherjee, Firhad Hakim and some others are trying to underplay it.
On the other hand, the BJP is alleging that the Left has double standards. Shamik
Bhattacharjee, the lone BJP MLA, has pointed out that in Bengal, the Left is joining ranks with
the Congress, while in Kerala, it is fighting the Congress. The CPI(M) leaders are also aware
that if the party opts for an alliance with the Congress in Bengal, it will impact party prospects
in Kerala. This is one question that must compel the CPI(M) central leadership to think twice
before giving the nod to the Bengal comrades' demand.