Kolkata: In its attempt to regain its relevance in the politics of West Bengal, the young Turks in the Left movement, particularly of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), are looking for inspiration in the ways of the old legends of the party: Jyoti Basu, Harekrishna Konar, Binoy Choudhury, Pramod Dasgupta, etc.
There has been a rising trend to fall back on the path of the traditional Left movement and reconnect with the masses at the grassroots level. This new strategy also involves reacquainting people with the history of the Left movement in Bengal.
An interesting strategy that the leaders of the Left student organisations have adopted is focusing on the religious cultures of different communities in West Bengal, and through dialogue and classes, to counter the campaigns of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Reliance on past success strategies
In 1947, the Communist Party of India had two MLAs in Bengal Legislative Assembly: Jyoti Basu and Ratan Lal Brahman, who were elected from the “Registered Factories” constituencies. Jyoti Basu won from the Railway Trade Union constituency, and Ratan Lal Bramhan from the Darjeeling Tea Garden constituency. They were both elected by labour-class voters. Their success came with the vigorous campaigns in the working class areas. Jyoti Basu’s organisational work and door-to-door campaign in the working class areas remain a legendary tale in the corridors of CPI(M) offices.
Another legendary tale is Binoy Choudhury’s electoral win from the Burdwan constituency in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly election of 1952. In that election, the then-jailed Choudhury defeated Congress candidate Uday Chand Mahatab who was a member of the Burdwan Royal Family. Numerous rallies and intensive door-to-door campaigns brought electoral success.
The organisational skill of Hare Krishna Konar became the pillar of the 1967 and 1971 United Front governments and the Left Front government of 1977. Konar’s organisational work attracted the rural masses to the party.
CPI(M) central committee member Rabin Dev said, “They are our party’s legends, whose work remains a source of inspiration for generations. With this inspiration, our student wing, the Student Federation of India (SFI), is doing excellent campaigning in the state. But, it is a continuous process. They need to keep up with the momentum. Presently, social networking sites have become the medium of communication, but lack human bondage. Only, face-to-face communication can build the bridge between the masses and the party.”
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Before the upcoming panchayat elections, the CPI(M) appears to be swaying between hope and despair. In the recent state committee meeting, the party leadership in districts reported that the masses are responding positively to the party programmes. A good number of inactive party members are now taking part in these programmes.
Challenges and reworking of strategy
However, the challenge is many of the party’s footsoldiers appear willing to compromise with the BJP to combat the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC). Such a strategy proved costly for the party in the 2018 Panchayat elections and the 2019 Lok Sabha election, which culminated in the 2021 Assembly election, where the CPI(M) could not win a single Assembly seat.
On the other hand, though TMC had won an overwhelming majority in the last election to the state’s three-tier Panchayat, it is beset by corruption allegations, and also a sense of deprivation looms large over the people in rural Bengal. The CPI(M)’s leadership in districts feels that this is why party workers on the ground think that TMC should be defeated first. For this, they are ready to become allies of the BJP.
In recent times, CPI(M) and BJP have shared seats in some cooperative society elections in the East Midnapore district, and the results have been in favour of the Left-BJP combine. CPI(M) leadership has taken strict action against 10 local leaders who had entered into an understanding with the saffron party and has expelled them from the party.
The CPI(M) leadership is of the opinion that the success of the BJP in the jungle-mahal area of Bankura, Purulia, Jhargram, and North Bengal is due to the social base of the RSS. These areas are dominated by the SC, ST, and OBC communities. Once, CPI(M) had a solid base within the tribal community. Even after losing power in the state, it still retained some presence in these areas till the 2016 Assembly Election, following which it has steadily been losing ground.
Also read: Is This the End of the Road for the CPI(M) in Bengal?
Before the RSS’s annual meeting in Prayagraj, which was from October 15 to 18, the Purbo Khetro Sanghachalak of West Bengal, Ajay Nandy, told reporters that the branches of RSS have increased their presence by 25% in the state.
To combat this, CPI(M) is now banking on its student wing. The central executive committee of SFI organised the All India Jatha, called ‘March for Education’ from August 1, 2022 to September 15, 2022. SFI members marched from five different corners of the country with slogans against saffronisation within the country. The north eastern chapter of All India Jatha entered West Bengal on August 19, 2022, and the Eastern chapter entered West Bengal on August 20, 2022.
SFI and DYFI members march to Raj Bhavan in Kolkata in protest against the TET recruitment scam. Credit: Twitter/CPI(M)
The president of SFI, Pratikur Rahaman, said, “All India Jatha stayed here for almost two weeks. In these two weeks, the Jatha covered a 3,200 kilometres and witnessed more than a thousand meetings and street corner meetings. The Jatha, which on its way held as many as a hundred and 73 public rallies, was widely accepted by the general people of the state.” The SFI leadership is of the opinion that their continuous protest rallies in the streets against the School Service Commission scam have been instrumental in bringing this success.
Holding onto this success, the SFI leadership has drawn up a plan to combat RSS-BJP’s dominance and regain the lost ground. The SFI leadership has directed all district committees to go on a door-to-door campaign, with a newly designed approach to reaching out to the people. The major part of this new formula includes addressing different religious cultures existing in the state.
SFI president Pratikur Rahaman said, “We have directed our district committees to be familiar with the different religious cultures of our state, like the Bhakti cult, Sufi, Vaishnavs, and the preachings of the Matua gurus Hari Chand Thakur, Guru Chand Thakur, and other ethno-religious movements of the Adivasi Leaders. For this, we have arranged classes for our members. While the RSS and BJP are dividing people in the name of religion, we, in our door-to-door campaigns, are spreading awareness of the inclusivity of our state’s religious cultural history.”
The SFI also believes that the National Education Policy is directed by the RSS and is “very divisive”.
The secretary of SFI, Srijan Bhattacharya said, “We have organised All India Jatha against the National Education Policy. Now, we are campaigning against the divisive politics of RSS across the state. Under the Trinamool’s regime, RSS has increased its presence. RSS is trying to break our social fabric. To combat RSS, we are reminding the people of the cultural heritage of our state. We are explaining the role of social reformers like Chaitanya Dev, Lalan Fakir and the teachings of Rabindranath Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam. We are also upholding the sacrifices made by Bhagat Singh, Khudiram Bose, Subhash Chandra Bose and others for our Independence.”
Besides this, the state leadership has decided to take stern action against those members who are willing to join hands with the saffron camp in the forthcoming panchayat elections. “At the central level, RSS-BJP is our main rival. In the state, both BJP and TMC are our political rivals. So, if any party member holds BJP’s hand to defeat TMC, the party will take stern action against that member,” said CPI(M) central committee member Rabin Dev.
So, while it is yet to be seen if these attempts will enable the party to recover its presence in the politics of West Bengal, it seems that the process of trying to stage a turnaround has been set in motion.
Biswajit Bhattacharya is a senior journalist based in Kolkata.
