The Congress' West Bengal unit president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has a long history of fight with the CPI(M). Murshidabad's strongman is now busy campaigning for the CPI(M)-Congress alliance to unseat his one-time colleague Mamata Banerjee. Comparing the alliance with Barak Obama's historic Cuba visit and the demolition of Berlin wall, Chowdhury reiterates the oft-repeated saying that there is no permanent friend or foe in politics. He spoke to BusinessLine on how the alliance was formed.

You have a long history of fighting the CPI(M). How easy was it to forge an alliance with the Left Front?

History has a slew of instances where rivalry has been turned into cordiality, into friendship. We have witnessed the demolition of Berlin wall. The demolition happened because it was an upsurge of emotions of people of both the Germanies. During Chinese liberation war, to defeat the Japanese imperialists, Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Tse-tung had forged a strategic alliance. After 88 years, a US President visited Cuba. It indicates that there cannot be a permanent inflexible phenomenon in politics and in diplomacy.

During UPA-I regime, Left parties had supported the Congress to form a government. So it’s nothing new or abnormal. The electoral alliance took place due to the demand of the workers of both the parties. The workers of both the parties had been subjected to severe violence and persecution by the Trinamool Congress (TMC). In order to get rid of unprecedented political atrocities and violence, workers have decided to fight the TMC onslaught together. We have conceded to the demands, aspirations and emotions of the persecuted workers of both the parties. They are happy now. It’s a spontaneous reaction of common workers of both the parties where any kind of instruction is not required. It is an alliance which was generated from the bottom, not from above. Actually, the leadership of both the parties have succumbed to the pressure of common workers.

How easy was the process of seat-sharing? We can see friendly fights in more than a dozen seats...

We are astonished to know that the rivalry, the political fight that was witnessed in Bengal between both the parties has been buried now. It’s a new phenomenon. You may call it a Bengal phenomenon. It has not been anticipated, it has not been predicted, but it has happened. If you go to any rally, you will witness the exuberance of the workers of both the parties.

In at least 99 per cent of the seats, the alliance has been smooth. In some seats there are some problems. The problems are because the stand of Left allies, not the CPI(M). Left allies are not happy with the seats given to them by the CPI(M). From our kitty, we have given seats to RJD, JD(U) and NCP. Our alliance is with the CPI(M). It’s up to the CPI(M) to decide the seat sharing within the Left Front. However, the issues are limited to 10-12 seats.

Mamata is your old colleague. Why did you choose CPI(M) than the TMC?

West Bengal has been witnessing anarchy in the last five years. We have been lagging behind in each sphere of life. People from all walks of life are feeling insecure. The glory of the past has evaporated. In order to get rid of this anarchy, we have acceded to the demand of the common people. Nothing more, nothing less. There is no hide and seek policy here.

CPI(M) is the largest party in the alliance. So isn’t it a risky business for the Congress?

It is not a question of procuring political dividend. Certainly, we must see the pros and cons of our political future. This time, before forging the alliance, the Congress had 10 per cent of votes at its disposal. In spite of the fact that we hold a very little chunk of votes, we have been able to extract more than 90 seats.

A few months earlier Congress was irrelevant in Bengal politics. Now Congress has become inevitable.

Now at least this transition has occurred — from irrelevance to inevitability . From non visibility, to visibility. We have gained so much even before the declaration of results.

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