CPM-led Left Front which had
a consecutive stint of 6 terms in office in West Bengal was voted out in the
last assembly elections. The Panchayat,
Municipal and Corporation elections held prior to Assembly elections were clear
indicators to what would be in store for CPM-led front in the Assembly
elections. Thus the severe drubbing received by the LF in the Assembly
elections did not come as a surprise. Soon after the LF was routed and Mamatha
Banerjee’s Trinamul Congress-led alliance was catapulted to victory, many a
newspaper in the country had filled their columns with several articles on the
reasons for the defeat of CPM-led LF in
the Assembly elections according to their imaginations and
interpretations. Nevertheless, the conclusions
made by almost all of them were the same being the misrule of Left Front in the
state. They were in fact shutting their
eyes to the reality and their conclusions were totally absurd and wrong, to say
the least. Then what was the reasons
that led to the set back of LF in Bengal?
Jyothi Basu remained Chief
Minister of West Bengal consecutively for 5 terms or 25 years. During his
tenure he had undertaken many schemes aimed at the welfare of peasants,
agricultural workers, and other poorer sections of the society. Lakhs and lakhs
of acres of land were distributed to the landless and steps were taken to liberate the poor
from the clutches of Zamindars and Jordars. Bengal had made tremendous progress
in various fields of its economy during his rule. Had the CPM rule under Jyothi Basu been misrule, how
come he could become Chief Minister
consecutively for 5 terms? This fact
gives a lie to that conclusion.
Then what went wrong? After Jyothi Basu, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya had
assumed office as Chief Minister. During his tenure of 5 years, he had
also implemented many schemes for the welfare of downtrodden, workers and poor
people. He was even described as the
best Chief Minister by many visioneries. As unemployment problem was very acute
in West Bengal, he had embarked upon certain programmes to eradicate the same
to the possible extent. With that
purpose in view, he had invited many industrial houses to invest in West Bengal
and start industries. The response he
received was tremendous and many industrial houses had planned setting up industries in West Bengal. One such industrial unit was to have set
up in Singur by the Tatas viz., a small
car factory which offered employment to a good number of people. The primary requisite for starting any
industry is land and the process had
started towards acquisition of land for that car factory. Nevertheless, during
the process of acquisition of land, agricultural land was also to be acquired. In
Kerala as we know many people had leveled their paddy fields to construct
houses whereas in Bengal it will never happen. There it is a sensitive issue to
make use of agricultural land for any
purpose other than agriculture not to
talk about starting industry. Though majority of agriculturists had agreed to give their land for starting the car
factory at Singur, a minority was not ready to part with their land. At that point of time, Mamatha Banerjee came
to the scene and started inciting the agriculturists against the
Government. Consequently, the dharna led by those agriculturists who
are opposed to acquisition of land turned violent resulting in police
lathicharge and firing culminating into the unfortunate death of a few persons. What happened afterwards is history. Had Buddhadeb
Bhattacharya not initiated steps at acquiring
agricultural land for starting industry, CPM-led front would not have lost in
the elections and would have been ruling the state even now. This ‘blunder’
committed by Buddhadeb Bhattacharya is the foremost reason for the defeat of CPM-led
front in West Bengal.
After the maverick Mamatha
Banerjee has become the Chief Minister of West Bengal, what is the situation prevailing in Bengal? Almost
60 active workers of CPM had been killed by Trinamool Congress workers during
the one-year rule of Mamatha Banerjee. There were widespread incidents of
Trinamool workers evicting people from
their lands and returning the same to the landlords from whom the land was
taken over by LDF Government. Evidently, her rule has become a rule of blunders resulting in people getting
disenchanted with her.
Sometime back one lady was
gang raped in a car at gun point while returning from a night club at Park
Street of Kolkata. When it has come t
light and she had lodged complaint, Mamatha Banerjee had, even before the police
enquiry was over, publicly stated that
that lady was not raped and it was a concocted story to malign her Government.
Subsequently, it turned out to be a case of rape much to her discomfort. Mamatha
Banerjee has not learnt anything from that blunder and bent upon committing further blunders. The
latest instance of blunder relates to
gang rape of a widow in a running train at Burdwan recently. When that lady tried to resist the robbers,
she was gang raped. Subsequently she has
lodged a complaint with the police.
However, as in the incident that happened at Park Street, Mamatha
Banerjee had the temerity of declaring that no rape had occurred as alleged by
that widow even before the result of medical
examination is out. She has branded the issue as a fabricated one. She
had even alleged that that lady’s husband is a CPM worker and it is part of a
conspiracy hatched by CPM to tarnish the image of her Government whereas that lady’s
husband had expired 10 years back. Moreover,
it has come to light that she belonged to a Congress family and her relations
are Congress and Trinamool Congress sympathizers and it was at their instance that
she had lodged complaint with the police. According to latest press reports two of those involved in the
incident of rape have been arrested a couple of days back and it came to light
that they are active Trinamool Congress workers. By such acts Mamatha Banerjee
is making herself a laughing stock in
eyes of the public resulting in erosion of her popular support.
Two pointers to the loss of popular
support to Mamatha were in display recently.
Firstly, the massive turn out in the rally held by CPM in connection
with its State Conference which has surpassed all calculations of the media and
Mamatha herself for almost 8 lakhs of people had turned up for that mammoth rally, much to the discomfiture
and consternation of Mamatha Banerjee and her lackeys. To add insult to injury, the recent all-India
strike by all central trade unions also came as a rude shocker to her. This is because she had done her level best
to throttle that strike in West Bengal but to no avail. Two prominent leaders
of CPM were waylaid and hacked to death while leading a rally in support of the
all-India strike and Mamatha Banerjee did not think it apt to convey her
condolences to their bereaved families nor has she expressed regret for that.
Even bourgeois newspapers had to report that the all-India strike was a grand success in West Bengal, where almost
all the industrial units were paralysed, all shops were closed and all the streets and roads were deserted on
that day. But Mamatha has pooh-poohed the
claim of the central trade unions and the media regarding the success of
the strike and declared it was a total failure in West Bengal, showing her in
poor light.
Undoubtedly, the above two instances are clear
pointers to the fact that CPM is on the come back trail in West Bengal.
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