CPM sees Trinamool hand in declining sale of its books

Outside the Puja marquees or at the intersections of major arteries in Kolkata and suburbs,the stalls selling classic works of Lenin,Stalin and Marx besides writings and speeches of Indian Communists and other related literature,exhibit a mood which is in sharp contrast to the usual din of the Puja festivities. Moreover other than doing brisk business,the stalls also provide an opportunity to the CPM to reach out to the people in every locality as the party ideologically kept itself aloof from any kind of religious festivities.

This year,along with the regular dose of the Communist literature,National Book Agency,the publisher of these books,has also brought out collections of works by Rabindranath Tagore and Bengali translation of Irfan Habib’s Technology in Medieval India.

CPM leader and former state minister Gautam Deb says the practice of setting up stalls started before the CPM was founded in 1964.

“We have prepared a list of places where we have faced resistance to setting up stalls by the Trinamool Congress,” said Deb.

CPM leader and state committee member Rabin Deb says resistance to stalls was seen five places in Kolkata. However,he says that despite resistance the party succeeded in setting up 117 stalls in Kolkata and about 1,500 in the state.

According to CPM leaders,the party faced more opposition in West Midnapore,Hooghly and Burdwan districts. The instances of resistance and ransacking of the Left bookstalls in Daspur in West Midnapore and New Barrackpore and Beleghata in Kolkata have been reported in the CPM’s mouthpiece Ganasakti.

Interestingly,the Trinamool has set up its stalls in Kolkata and adjoining areas to sell their own literature which includes Jago Bangla,the party mouthpiece and the books penned by Bannerjee. While the party cannot boast of many publications,many people flocked at the Trinamool stalls.