HVK Archives: Uneasy lies the head
Uneasy lies the head - The Statesman
Shyamal Sarkar and Sumit Sen
()
September 12, 1998
Title: Uneasy lies the head
Author: Shyamal Sarkar and Sumit Sen
Publication: The Statesman
Date: September 12, 1998
In the changed scenario in West Bengal where polarised electoral
politics has taken a beating with the emergence of the Trinamul
Congress and the BJP, the Leftists have reason to be uneasy.
More than Mamata Banerjee's fledgling part the Marxist-led
conglomerate is wary of the BJP, leaning as it does on the
regimented RSS.
In the 21 years of Left Front rule, there has been no serious
challenge to Marxist hegemony, simply because the only Opposition
of any worth, the Congress, lost its foothold after being ousted
>from power in 1977. Its fate was scaled when it had to take on a
regimented cadre based party such as the CPI-M unlike its
counterparts in either Kerala or Tripura where power changed
hands frequently.
In West Bengal, while the Congress managed to secure 37-40 per
cent of the votes, it failed to tilt the balance in its favour
despite the CPI-M's vote percentage at around 36. Along with the
constituents, however, the Left continued to control about 46 per
cent of the votes.
Congress' organisational bankruptcy can be traced back to 1972-77
when the seeds of factionalism was first sown by former chief
minister Siddharta Shankar Ray. Ever since successive Congress
leaders, including Pradesh Congress chiefs like ABA Ghani Khan
Chowdhury, Pranab Mukherjee, Priya Ranjan Das Munshi and Somen
Mitra, instead of containing differences, have fanned it to suit
themselves.
The first major split in the party came with Mamata breaking away
to form the Trinamul Congress. An earlier attempt by a peeved Mr
Pranab Mukherjee when he floated the Rashtriya Samajwadi
Congress, soon after Rajiv Gandhi became Prime Minister, came a
cropper. In the late 1960s however, the only breakaway Congress,
the Bangla Congress, led by Ajoy Mukherjee made a brief impact as
part of the United Front ministry in West Bengal.
While opinions differ on whether the Trinamul Congress' electoral
success was a flash in the pan, the fact remains that Miss
Banerjee's party not only decimated the Congress but gave the
BJP, a political player of little significance, a leg up in state
politics. CPI-M central committee member Anil Biswas is probably
not wrong when he points out that the Trinamul Congress is a
"passing phenomenon The real danger lies with the BJP which
depends heavily on the RSS. With is "fundamentalist ideology and
obscurantist views", the RSS can mislead the people, says Mr
Biswas.
That the BJP-RSS combine can penetrate the rural milieu and
threaten the Marxist base became amply clear in the Lok Sabha
polls and the subsequent panchayat elections. The BJP's success
in Dum Dum Lok Sabha constituency, traditionally a red bastion,
came as a rude shock to the CPI-M.
Shaken by the Dum Dum result and the BJP's inroads in several
districts in the panchayat polls, the CPI-M was forced into
introspection. The organisational report of the party's 19th
state conference reflects its concern over the "rise of
fundamentalist forces". The 1998 panchayat polls saw a drop of
7.18 per cent votes of the CPI-M in the gram panchayats compared
to 1993. The Left Front as a whole lost 8.46 per cent. Only in
the Zilla Parishad had the Left gained 1.05 per cent votes.
The BJP is quite candid about having found a toehold with the
help of the Trinamul Congress. Pointing to the political void
where the Congress failed to live up to its role of the major
opposition, BJP leaders like Tapan Sikdar and Muzaffar Khan say
that Miss Mamata Banerjee's was the only voice of protest in the
Congress.
Optimism continues to be the Congress's mainstay. Former PCC
general secretary Saugata Roy believes that despite its
recognition as an all India party, the Trinamul Congress remains
regional in character. The BJP's gain is ascribed to the split in
the Congress which has also helped the CPI-M. Mr Roy is confident
that in the 2001 assembly elections the Congress will climb back
to the number one opposition from its current number three slot.
The CPI-M's main concern is the BJP. To the Marxists, the
Trinamul Congress continues to be an offshoot of the Congress and
therefore prone to the same ills. Not so the BJP, a national
party which has gone from strength to strength.
The Trinamul-BJP combine, however, think differently. Both sides
say that despite their electoral pact before the Lok Sabha, they
found it difficult to get along. Had the electoral amity been
more sound, the Lok Sabha and the panchayat polls results would
have been better. The two parties seem to have bridged the gap to
a large extent and Miss Banerjee and Mr Sikdar, till the other
day at daggers drawn, are being seen together at public meetings.
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