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The Left Front will observe Emergency Days in West Bengal on June 25 and 26 to enlighten the youth of Bengal about the infamous June 25 of 1975 when the Emergency was declared and June 26 when it came into effect. All this,for the benefit of the common people who,the Left claims,are suffering under the terror unleashed by the Trinamool Congress. Heres a clearer,saner picture. Alimuddin Street is struggling to come to terms with its new identity: just the regional CPM headquarters,not the de facto seat of power and policy that had deluded itself into believing it would never fall from grace.

An uninterrupted rule spanning 34 years robbed the Left Front of any inkling as to what it is like to be in opposition. Many of its legislators,and most of its party workers,too have undergone a generational change,with the pre-1977 days having long faded from the Lefts collective memory. Now,its 60-odd MLAs will have to begin by learning the rudiments of parliamentary democracy. For three-plus decades,legislators,party members and workers of the Left had enjoyed a sense of entitlement that was never questioned. All that has gone in one fell stroke on May 13. Suddenly,the CPM finds its worker strength reduced to less than half. The majority of these people were mere beneficiaries,who are now abandoning ship. So,one by one CPM offices are shutting down in the districts. There are also two big debates raging the post-defeat blamegame within the CPM,and the rising cry from the smaller parties for a change in the state CPM and Left Front leadership.

These are early days of loss. When the post-mortems are done,the Left Front will have to preclude the portal that can take it back to its old obstructionist,agitationist,street-fighting days. Political discourse and practice have changed across the country; Bengal too has embraced change. In the assembly and on the street,the Left will have to be conduct itself responsibly,if in five years time it is to challenge a chief minister who,right now,is seizing the initiative with her words and actions.