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Left alone to mull over the
loss, and its reasons
WSN Network
 Kolkata/New
Delhi: These are tough times for the Indian Left. The debacle-hit
CPM has already postponed its central committee meeting, triggering
speculation that the leadership was fighting shy of facing criticism
from the members of the all-powerful party organ.
The decision was
taken amidst rising chorus in West Bengal blaming the electoral
fiasco on the central leadership. Leaders from the party are arguing
that the election was fought on national issues and the outcome was
a verdict of the party’s stance on those.
All enthusiasm
is lost now for the third front. Mayawati, the great hope of the
third front, is bending backwards to offer support to Manmohan
Singh's government and is not even using the word 'outside'.
The CPI(M) will
also have to explain its efforts at alliances with parties that have
nothing to do with the Leftist ideology.
The
finger-pointing over West Bengal is unprecedented from the standards
of a party which prides itself on discipline. Naturally, meaning was
being read into West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s
decision to skip the politburo meeting scheduled for Monday. Party
Party’s state
secretary Biman Bose and industry minister Nirupam Sen are in the
process of drafting a detailed report.
Many will blame
Singur and Nandigram handling as having played a role in Left’s
debacle in West Bengal. Also the virtue that the Karat and company
gang made out of the third front will come in for blame.
But the main
concern for the CPM, to be seriously discussed, is the failure of
the party’s political organization to understand discontent among
people. “One can understand urban voters being upset with us. But
even rural
Bengal
has rejected the party. Out of 13 constituencies that went to polls
in the last phase, Left lost 11,” a leader pointed out, adding that
the reasons have to be “located”. Land acquisition for industries
and factionalism are the other issues to be taken up by the PB.
Party sources said despite CPM’s best claims Singur and Nandigram
took place because of faulty land acquisition policy.
Factionalism
will be an issue for Kerala. Both state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan
and chief minister VS Achutanandan would be in the firing line.
Achutanandan has placed the blame for the debacle on the state
leadership and not on the state government. His camp will now push
for sanctioning the prosecution of Vijayan in the SNC-Lavlin case.
“It is a fact that Vijayan’s credibility as a political organizer
stands questioned,” a leader said.
Now, it is known
that a day before the LS results were to be declared, CPM state
secretary Biman Bose spoke to party patriarch Jyoti Basu and exuded
confidence over the Left Front’s performance. Basu apparently didn’t
share his optimism and was proved right as the Left suffered its
worst defeat since 1977. Not just Jyoti Basu but a number of CPM
leaders feel CPM general secretary Prakash Karat and the state
leadership botched up prospects.
20
May 2009
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