There is a feeling among the parties that make up the Left bloc that the people of Bihar are disenchanted with the politics of the hour, and that the Left could provide them a viable alternative. General Secretary of the CPI (ML) Liberation Dipankar Bhattcharya, a key campaigner for the alliance, says the agrarian and rural distress and the failure of the Centre and State governments to address them will turn the people Left. He spoke to BusinessLine on the prospects of the Left parties this time around.
The Left has been facing huge backlashes in Bihar for quite some time. How different will these elections be?
People are looking for a change in the idiom of politics in Bihar. They are tired of the kind of opportunism we see, the kind of arrogance of money power, the kind of dynasty politics…Every leader is busy securing the fortunes of their children. This is where Left politics is important. It is not only refreshing, but also has certain principles. In Left politics, you can see transparency, respect for the people and respect for the party cadre…This has an appeal on the emerging, new generation of Bihar voters.
The BJP in Bihar is not a party imported from Gujarat – it may look that way because the whole campaign is run by two Gujaratis. It is a party with roots in Bihar and those roots lie in the State’s feudal power structure. Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar have been hand-in-glove with this feudal structure. It was the poor who made Lalu their leader. He in turn crushed the upsurge of rural poor. During his period [of rule] the Ranbir Sena came up. A private army could not have been sustained without the help of the State.
Nitish continued this policy aggressively and explicitly. Whether it is the dumping of the D Bandopadhyaya Commission report on land reforms, or the disbanding of the Amir Das Commission report on Ranbir Sena, Nitish was complicit with the BJP. Look at the Congress. It was in power for ten years. All those States where there is a bipolar fight between the Congress and the BJP, that party is not in a position to check the BJP.
This is where a real powerful Left unity and the pursuit of Left agenda can make a difference. Even electorally, in many areas we are in a position to actually take on the BJP and defeat it. If the Left were not there, BJP would have been the beneficiary of anti-incumbency factor.
How will you benefit from the anti-incumbency factor?
There is a huge disenchantment with the Modi government. Cutbacks in the schemes for rural power, the land grab [acquisition] ordinance, price rise, question of black money… The idea that the PM has taken charge of the campaign, along with Amit Shah, by sidelining Bihar leaders, has not gone down well.
In many areas we are in a position to actually take on the BJP and defeat it. If the Left were not there, BJP would have been the beneficiary of anti-incumbency factor