Ahead of Assembly Polls, Left, Congress to Launch Joint Movement Across West Bengal

Kolkata:  A joint movement is set to be launched across West Bengal by workers and farmers, including different mass organisations of Left parties and Congress to set the agenda ahead of the West Bengal Assembly elections due in May 2021.

The call for the joint movement in Bengal comes in the backdrop of a countrywide general strike call by 10 central trade unions on November 26 and the two-day (Nov 26-27) agitation call by over 250 farmer organisations under the umbrella of the All India Kisan Coordination Committee.

The decision to launch a joint movement was announced at a press meeting held by the Left parties and Congress recently in Kolkata.

CPI(ML) for Poll Strategy Rethink by LF

A separate press meet was held in Kolkata by Dipankar Bhattacharya of the CPI(ML), which performed very well in the recently held Bihar Assembly elections where all the Left parties were part of the Rashtriya Janata Dal-led Mahagathbandhan, which included the Congress.

The ongoing debate in West Bengal relates to the issue of a poll strategy by the Left and what it should see as the bigger danger today -- the “highly unpopular” ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) or the communal Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is leaving no stone unturned to hurt the secular culture of the state in a bid to take over power, or both.

While the Communist Party of India (Marxist), which is leading the Left Front in West Bengal, is firm on targeting both the TMC and BJP, saying that a ‘Bihar-like model’ will not work in Bengal, the recent remarks made by CPI(ML) general secretary, suggest that for the Left, the BJP should be ‘enemy no 1’ in Bengal.

The CPI(ML) general secretary said that his party’s Bihar experience was that BJP was strengthening its organisation on the support of base of RJD,  and such tactics should not be allowed to take place in  a state like West Bengal.

At a press conference held in Kolkata, the CPI (ML) general secretary said:  “TMC ‘s role should be tactically faced”.  

Asked by NewsClick whether TMC should be cornered for being responsible for the rise of BJP in the state, Bhattacharya said that “in West Bengal the situation is that when your home is on fire, you should not indulge in a blame game about why it happened”. 

Bhattacharya expressed remorse if his comments had hurt senior Left Front leaders but said he was of the view that across the country BJP should be the “bull’s eye” for any Left party, adding that the West Bengal elections were a “litmus test for leftism in the country”. 

The CPI(ML) leader admitted that in West Bengal, TMC  had orchestrated many attacks on the Left and did not believe in democracy, which was directly helping the BJP. He said CPI(ML) Liberation had faced such problems in Bihar with RJD in the past, but had unitedly fought these election which, more than the Left parties, helped the RJD and other parties of the Mahagathbandhan, as the Left vote swing was been encashed by them, too.

Bhattacharya also said that CPI(M), as the larger Left party in the state, should reconsider it views  after the setback it faced after Singur and its vote share plunged.

Left Front to Focus on Nov 26 Strike: Biman Basu

In his press conference, Left Front Chairman Biman Basu, hinted that what Left parties and Congress were looking at as of now was drawing up a strategy to jointly launch movements and struggles throughout the state.

“For Left parties, discussions like seat sharing should come only after success in struggles forged in each district of the state has been achieved,” Basu told mediapersons after a meeting of Left parties and Congress.