The Hindu Business Line : A Marxist triumph in Bengal

What precisely has changed to give the Left Front in West Bengal such a solid mandate this time around, to decisively reverse a 10-year trend? "I am in favour of Socialism. It is the best social order. But, in the present situation, if we have to develop, we have no other alternative but to woo capitalists."

MR BUDDHADEB BHATTACHARJEE, Chief Minister, West Bengal

It has been a landslide win for the Left Front in West Bengal with the grouping bagging 235 seats of the 294 State Assembly seats, up from 199 in the 2001 elections. True, this scale of victory has been bettered in the past (in 1987 and 1991) when the Front won 251 and 245 seats, respectively. But since 1996 the showing has been somewhat pedestrian with the seats tally declining to 203 and 199 in the two subsequent Assembly elections held in that year and 2001. Seen against this background, the 2006 performance has been rather remarkable — quite obviously being the result of some change or the other in the State since 2001.

What precisely has been that change which has given the Left Front such a solid mandate this time around, which has decisively reversed a 10-year trend? Since it is usually the Government's performance which is held up before the people at the time of an election, let us see what the Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, has to say on the subject. To start with, in his characteristic self-effacing manner, he referred to the "collective performance" of the Left Front and said that there was no `I' factor involved in the outcome.

However, responding to the widespread feeling that his pro-reform policies and their quicker-than-usual implementation had contributed a great deal to the poll outcome, he said that the victory was `significant' and (as reported) "was a mandate for the steps for economic development of the State" which he had initiated. Elaborating, he added: "We will have to attract more investment from the private sector. I am in favour of Socialism. It is the best social order. But, in the present situation, if we have to develop, we have no other alternative but to woo capitalists."

`A fitting reply'

The Left Front chairman and State CPI(M) secretary, Mr Biman Bose, saw in the scale of the victory a fitting reply to the Election Commission which, in his view, had no right to single out the State for a five-day poll exercise and thereby `insult' the people of West Bengal. As he put it in his inimitable way, the result had proved beyond all doubt that the Left Front in the State was as adept at playing a five-day election Test match as a one-dayer.

If the vote was mainly triggered by the EC's strictures, one inference of course is that, in the absence of the Election Commission's initiatives, the result would have been different — perhaps one where the Left Front's winning margin would have been smaller!

The CPI(M) general secretary, Mr Prakash Karat, had of course an entirely different point of view which not only focussed solely on the collective dimension of the victory but also negated emphatically the economic interpretation. To quote him: "People who link the Left Front victory in Bengal to Brand Buddha hardly understand CPI(M) politics. The CPI(M) has been winning polls in Bengal for decades and there is no need to give an extra premium to the Bengal Government's pro-reforms stand."

Mr Karat is partly right and partly wrong. There is no doubt whatever that the Chief Minister has made an impact on the average voter's mind — particularly in Kolkata and its added areas — through his reform policies that directly translated into the huge margin of 58,130 votes by which he won his Jadavpur seat, nearly double the 2001 figure of 29,281 which, incidentally, was lower than his 1996 tally of 36,184 votes.

CM's reform credentials

The interesting part of the story is that his party did not do equally well in the city areas where the Left Front won nine seats, the Trinamul nine and the Congress three. In other words, although the Left Front sweep in West Bengal bypassed Kolkata, it can be argued that the Chief Minister did exceedingly well solely because of his reform credentials.

But Mr Karat is absolutely correct in focusing on the way the CPI(M) operates in explaining the scale of the election victory because a closer look at the results will indicate that the party itself was solely responsible for the Left Front's performance in the State at large — in fact much, much more than the other constituents of the Front. The best evidence of this is the fact that while the Left Front was able to win 36 additional seats (from its 2001 tally of 199), the CPI(M) alone contributed 33 of these seats, that is, leaving just three for the other Left Front parties.

The question to ask is: What was the factor that led the CPI(M) to win so many more seats when there was no palpable `wave' affecting the State electoral scene — which would certainly have affected the other Front partners?

Neither on the political scene nor on the economic (the Chief Minister's economic reforms would probably be seen as a threat to people in the rural areas because of pressure on available land to set up new industries) had anything occurred in the past 18 months which could have left a strong enough mark for the people to have voted for the CPI(M) in the way they in fact did.

Organisational strength

The answer clearly lies in the supreme organisational excellence and strength of the CPI(M) in West Bengal, the seeds of which were sown by the late Promode Dasgupta and subsequently carefully nurtured by another State party secretary, Anil Biswas, who, sadly, passed away just before the elections. The grassroots-level organisation was already in place when the Election Commission took it upon itself to tighten the screws in West Bengal, which was actually the trigger for the district party apparatus — carefully orchestrated from the party's Alimuddin Street headquarters in Kolkata — to get every friendly voter to the polling booths on election day.

This wholly explains the nearly seven per cent extra turnout out in this election (82 per cent) compared to 2001 (75.24 per cent) and the preponderance of womenfolk among the voters.

For the Opposition in West Bengal the writing on the wall is clear. In normal circumstances, it simply cannot dislodge the CPI(M) from the seat of power unless it builds up an equally strong organisational base and puts up a united front, both of which seem distant dreams at this point of time.

More Stories on : Politics | Wide Canvas | Economy

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Demolition troubles

Unsettling

A Marxist triumph in Bengal

Where politics and business meet

The price of reservation

Fallout of interest rate uncertainties

Corruption — here, there, everywhere

Kerala story