The writing on the wall was there. But the Leftists in India steadfastly refused to read the message. And if the Left is facing an existential crisis, it itself is to be blamed. There is a famous saying by the Greek philosopher Heraclitus “Change is the only constant in life”. But for the Left, “change” is anathema. What is surprising is that while Communism and the Soviet Union in Eastern Europe sank, the Left in India continued to swim for so long! Still, it refused to learn lessons from Russia and China, the historical torchbearers of communism, who later embraced the free-market economy.

Being the main opposition party to the Congress at the Centre for about 20 years after Independence, the Left, represented by the Communist Party of India (CPI) then, is fighting unsuccessfully for its survival.

In 1957, the CPI became the first party in independent India to win a state election without aligning with Congress. It was Kerala. But the next seven years saw the disintegration of the CPI as it split in 1964 into two factions – the Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India (Marxist). In the subsequent years, the radical CPI-M grew in strength at the expense of the CPI.

Though the CPI-M was part of the United Front government in West Bengal between 1967 and 1971, it made it big when Jyoti Basu began his long tenure as the Chief Minister, serving as head of the Left Front coalition which had an uninterrupted rule for 34 years till 2011. In the meantime, the Front continued to play a dominant role in Kerala either as the ruling or the main opposition party almost every five-year rotation of state elections. The party added Tripura to its kitty in 1993 where it headed the government for 25 years until 2018.

The period between 1990 and 2010 was the golden era of the Left Front. Not only did it prop up several Third Front governments at the Centre, it also supported the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government from outside in 2004 when it had 59 parliamentary seats till it withdrew its support in July 2008 on the nuclear deal with the US. The decision later backfired and cost it heavily in the next elections.

This period also saw the Left committing the “historic blunder” when it denied prime ministership to Jyoti Basu in 1996. History would have been written differently had the Left not torpedoed Jyoti Basu’s chances of becoming the first communist Prime Minister of the country. One fails to understand the intellect of the Left because Jyoti Basu as Prime Minister could have benefited the communists politically largely.

The free fall in the Left’s fortunes began from 2009 when its Lok Sabha tally hit 24, the lowest ever since independence. The subsequent elections saw further erosion of the Left Front as it won 12 parliamentary seats in 2014 and just five in the last elections which were held in 2019. Notably, the Left drew a blank in its bastions West Bengal and Tripura and managed to win just one seat in Kerala. Its other four seats came from Tamil Nadu, thanks to the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).

No doubt, the Left owed its success in West Bengal, Tripura and Kerala to the land reforms and it became the mannequin of the farming community initially. But the reforms did not percolate down to the lowest strata of the society, particularly the lower caste people. The Left, which largely pandered to the interests of the working class, also did not try to expand its base.

Most importantly, its economic policies were much left to be desired. The flight of industrialists from the state due to persistent labour disputes and lock-outs and the government’s open support to trade unions led to the growing unemployment. The educated youth had no jobs. Bristling with anger, they, too, migrated. To add fuel to the fire was the sudden U-turn on the decades-old economic policies of the Left by the then Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. His open embrace to industrialists by creating favourable policies like the Special Economic Zones and the land acquisition for a proposed Tata Motors automobile factory at Singur backfired. The Trinamool Congress led by the fiery Mamata Banerjee, which was waiting in the wings for a long, smelt opportunity and accused the Left government of grabbing land of the poor villagers for the industrialists. The relentless campaign by the Trinamool struck a chord with the people, who had by now become disillusioned with the ruling communist dispensation. The people’s pent-up anger reflected in the 2011 Assembly elections when they punished the Left Front by voting the Trinamool to power. The Left’s defeat was so pronounced that the Front could win just 62 seats out of 294. Notably, the incumbent Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee lost his Jadavpur seat to his Trinamool rival. The BJP, which contested 289 seats, failed to open its account.

The story was more or less the same in the assembly elections that followed five years later in 2016, except the complete Trinamoolisation of the communists. The Left Front slumped to its worst tally winning just 32 seats whereas Trinamool added 27 more to take its tally to 211. The BJP made its debut by winning three seats.

Up till now, the Communists’ loss was Trinamool’s gain. But five years down the line, there seems to be a change happening in West Bengal politics. Those who switched their loyalty to Trinamool are dejected, as the change they expected did not happen. In Trinamool, they saw the extension of communist rule. Their disappointment was evident when the BJP, which was a marginal player in state politics till recently, made a splash in the 2019 parliamentary elections by winning 18 of the 42 seats. And most of the gains came at the expense of the Trinamool.

As the eight-phase elections are underway in West Bengal, the BJP has emerged as the main opponent to the Trinamool displacing both the Left and the Congress. It itself is a major victory for the saffron party which till the last assembly elections had just three seats in its kitty. So, what is left of the Left? Even the Left is groping for answers!

Vikas Khanna is a journalist and columnist with over three decades of experience. The views expressed are personal

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First Published:Apr 21, 2021 5:38 PM IST