[In Calcutta North and Calcutta South, both claimed by the TMC, the CPI(M) candidates came third behind the BJP. Till the other day, it was just unimaginable.]
India 2014 elections: Rout of the Left in Bengal The Telegraph, May 17 , 2014 3Ms and disconnect fell Left ASHIS CHAKRABARTI Calcutta, May 16: It's one thing to be in decline and quite another to fall like this. The decline of the CPM in Bengal, that began with the panchayat elections of 2008, has been unchecked over the next two polls -- to the Lok Sabha in 2009 and the Assembly in 2011. But what has happened this time may be final proof of the party -- and Left politics in the state -- withering away. Why and how it happened obviously had much to do with the Narendra Modi wave. Caught between the saffron gale and an unstoppable Mamata Banerjee, the CPM simply wilted like an old tree whose foundations had become too weak to withstand the double assault. While the saffron surge cut deep into the Left's vote share -- it fell by nearly 12 per cent from 41 per cent in the 2011 Assembly polls -- it seems to have lost a substantial part of its Muslim voters to the Trinamul Congress. To a majority of Muslims, Trinamul, and not the Left, was the best bet against the BJP. Thus, both Mamata and the BJP gained from the Modi wave, mostly at the cost of the Left. It its traditional areas of strength such as Malda and Murshidabad, the Congress, rather than Trinamul, was the Muslims' party of choice against the saffron threat. However, there is a bigger context that may explain the sudden death of the Left in Bengal. The transfer of votes, the gradual decline of the Left's organisational power and other such factors look like only footnotes to this larger story. And it is about the irrelevance of the idea of Leftism in Indian politics today. Leftism -- or the variety of it represented by the CPM -- means less and less to more and more people even in Bengal. For younger generations, the white-haired leaders of the party are men and women from the past to which they cannot relate. Nor do the party's rhetoric and programmes fit into the new generations' aspirations for the future. The rise of the CPM -- and of Left politics in Bengal -- had a historical context in the partition of Bengal and what it did to society and politics in the state. The rise was helped by the steady decline of the Congress since the late 1960s. It was a time when the global political context too made sense to many people of the Left's politics of protests -- against capitalism, imperialism, the Congress and so much else. Except to the party faithful, these ideas have little appeal now, especially after 34 years of the Left's uninterrupted rule in Bengal. It's not so much a question of what the people thought the Left did right or wrong during its rule. It's more about the people wondering what this Left politics is all about. It's about the people not being able to connect Left politics to life around them and to their plans for the immediate future. And also about the Left not being able to connect to the people's hopes and fears. True, they seem to argue, the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer, as the Left says. But what the new generations want is not so much to complain and shout about it as to compete, succeed and get rich themselves. And they hate the clichéd slogans and the politics of strikes. So what's the Left's point, they wonder. Is this then the end of the road for the Left in Bengal? For the record, even in these worst of times, it secured 29 per cent of the votes. In last year's rural polls, in which Trinamul did not allow Opposition candidates to file nominations in nearly 40 per cent of the seats in many districts, the Left had got 38 per cent of the votes. Trinamul faced allegations of using terror and rigging the polls in many places even this time. But CPM leaders would fool only themselves if they attributed this big crash to "rigging". So is there a hope of recovery, however slow, for Bengal's Left? There could be a clamour in the party rank and file for a change of leadership. There could be some rethinking on how the party and affiliated fronts readjust their lines on mass politics. But these are minor remedies that may not do much to revive the party. It is obvious that the BJP will henceforth rise further in Bengal to fill the vacuum left by the Left. So what can the Left do to stay relevant at a time when Leftism itself is losing relevance? Alimuddin Street doesn't seem to have any answers. o o o Daily News and Analysis, 17 May 2014 No place left for Left by Monobina Gupta (New Delhi | Agency: DNA) Left ideology is no longer defined in the linear Marxist-Leninist sense that it once used to be. ...Social movements have proliferated across the country, protesting unfair land acquisition or nuclear energy plants. Unlike the conventional Left genre, these movements have gathered a momentum of their own, taking the place of mainstream Left parties At the heart of West Bengal's 2014 election narrative is the stunning decimation of the Communist Party on India (Marxist), which once held the state in its iron grip for three decades and more. Simultaneously, riding Modi's soaring popularity, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), registered a palpable presence in the state where it was a mere political blip so far. The BJP's tally of two seats equalling that of the CPI-M is a telling comment on the plight of the Left parties. Consider the 2009 Lok Sabha elections when the CPI-M had nine seats, and the Left Front 15. Remarkably though, the ruling Trinamool Congress has managed to hold out against the BJP surge sweeping the country. Yet the BJP's impressive 17% vote share in West Bengal must be worrying for chief minister Mamata Banerjee. Apprehensions of a resurgent BJP dabbling in the troubled waters of the communally sensitive state are already on the rise. In the run-up to the elections, a combative Mamata threw the gauntlet at Narendra Modi, publicly hitting out at him, even calling him the "butcher of 2002 Gujarat riots". For his part, Modi, emphatically declared his intention to send Bangladeshi immigrants packing if he comes to power at the Centre. Now that the BJP leader has established his supremacy at the Centre and across the Hindi heartland, the political texture of West Bengal could well change. From all indications, the changed political course could further bleed the CPI-M and the Congress. The BJP in these elections has primarily reaped electoral profit at the cost of the CPI-M and not the Trinamool Congress. Whatever be her governance record, Mamata has proven her credentials to stay at the crease -- even when the ground has appeared shaky. The CPI-M and the established Left parties, on the other hand, have driven themselves to the margins of electoral politics. Left ideology, it can be justifiably argued, is no longer defined in the linear Marxist-Leninist sense that it once used to be. In West Bengal, once the CPI-M's very own bastion, the Trinamool Congress had cast itself in the Left's role as the CPI-M continues to tread a politically disastrous path, leading to a severing of the party's ties with its traditional support groups -- West Bengal's peasants, Muslims and tribals. West Bengal's predictable political and electoral monotony came to an end in 2011. The Left Front, uninterruptedly helming the state for 34 years, finally lost the state to the Trinamool Congress. Embattled and drastically reduced in strength both in Parliament and the assembly, the CPI-M since, has not recovered from its losses. Astonishingly, the party leadership, whether under Prakash Karat at the Centre or Buddhadeb Bhattacharya in the state, has appeared listless and devoid of all inclination to reassert itself politically. In contrast, social movements have proliferated across the country, protesting unfair land acquisition or nuclear energy plants. Unlike the CPI-M of the conventional Left genre, these movements -- clubbed under the broad 'Left' rubric -- have gathered a momentum of their own, taking the place of mainstream Left parties, a spent force by now. The emergence of the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP), has further robbed the shine -- whatever was left of it -- of the mainstream Left. As the right-wing government under Narendra Modi takes centrestage, AAP will more and more take on the role of the 'real' Left in the days to come. What then will be left of the CPI-M? o o o The Hindu KOLKATA, May 17, 2014 Worst-ever show by Left by Suvojit Bagchi Vote share goes down by 14 per cent, compared to 2009 Since the split in the Communist Party of India (CPI) in 1964, the party delivered its worst-ever performance in Bengal on Friday. Even while the Left Front got nearly 30 per cent of the votes polled, the percentage of share is down by nearly 14 per cent, compared to 2009. Incidentally, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) gained nearly 12%, compared to 2009. While the detailed break-up of poll percentage is yet to emerge, many believe that the BJP has mainly cut into the Left Front's vote base. In 2009, Left had won 15 out of 42 seats in Bengal and had a vote share of 43.30%. On Friday, CPI-M got two seats, which is three seats less than what it got in 1967, three years after the split in the Communist party. The Left has won Murshidabad and Raiganj. The CPI (M) won Murshidabad, after 15 years, defeating two-time winner Abdul Mannan Hossain of the Congress. Badrudozza Khan of the CPI (M), a teacher by profession, was the candidate from Murshidabad. In Raiganj, CPI (M) leader Md Salim, defeated his two key rivals - Congress candidate Deepa Dasmunshi, wife of former Union Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, and brother of Priya Ranjan, Satya Ranjan Dasmunshi. However, Mr. Salim won by a very slim margin. Interestingly, the CPI (M) won both their seats in north-central Bengal, the bastion of the Congress, after one-and-a-half decades. The Left Front came close to winning a few seats but ended up getting only two. While the CPI (M) and its partners alleged that "large-scale rigging including false voting by the TMC" affected the coalition's poll prospects, the inevitable question after Friday is about the future of the Left in Bengal. Can they turn around at a time when the BJP has clearly emerged a formidable power in West Bengal? And when the traditional 'block' voters of the CPI (M) - Muslims - are still aligning with the TMC, is it possible for the Left to make a comeback by 2016 Assembly election? Front chairman Biman Basu said that the "result is unexpected." Many in the CPI (M) camp thought that the BJP would cut into the TMC's vote, thus helping the Left increase its seats, if not the percentage. But since early Friday morning, the trends were clear. It was evident that the BJP is cutting into the Left's vote base. Actor Moon Moon Sen, who is not aware of the number of booths in her constituency, defeated nine-time winner Basudeb Acharya of the CPI (M). Six-time winner Ramchandra Dom from Bolpur constituency was defeated by another newcomer and an academic, Anupam Hazra of the TMC. Three-time winner from Medinipur, CPI's Prabodh Panda, lost to a former actor, Sandhya Roy of the TMC. Other important leaders of the Left who lost are Pulin Bihari Baskey, Bangsha Gopal Chowdhury, Ashim Dasgupta, Debesh Das, Sujan Chakravarty of the CPI (M), Manohar Tirkey, Bimal Sarkar, Subhas Naskar of the RSP, and Santosh Rana of the CPI. But when asked who is responsible for the series of defeats, the Front chairman said that "no individual can be held responsible for this result." SEE ALSO: May 16 Press Statement on CPI(M) website http://cpim.org/content/west-bengal-verdict-distorted -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
