A new Left?

If it were not for the mutual,often violent,ill-will between the primary players,politics in West Bengal would comprise only symbolism and rhetoric,with a little substance thrown in once in a while. While Mamata Banerjee’s government,after eight months,shows neither the imagination nor the intent to change the essential narrative,the CPM’s state secretary,Biman Bose,has come out with a Republic Day call to transform the party from “top to bottom” so that it becomes “acceptable” again.

It’s not the first time the CPM has made public its recognition of the need to change itself,but this has been its first opportunity to think aloud with the new government’s honeymoon period clearly over. Banerjee isn’t vulnerable yet. But on several fronts,whether farmer suicides or the ugly tussle with the Congress,the Trinamool Congress has exposed itself to severe criticism. Bose’s exhortation to “change” and his claim that the communists don’t care if they are in power or not,come still too soon to engender a visible uplift in Left morale. The Left Front,and the CPM,were vanquished in last year’s assembly polls. And ground held firmly for three-plus decades,once lost,will not come back easily. However,it’s important for the CPM to draw the right lessons and reform in the right direction. That’s where their challenge,and danger,lie.

For,the CPM has analysed the reasons for the defeat earlier,and was content to lay the blame squarely on former CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. That was witnessed at the party’s state committee meet last July,attended by general secretary Prakash Karat. After being pushed to the margins of national politics,a new,adaptive and accommodating worldview is imperative for the Left. It cannot return to its anachronistic roots in mass agitation. Bhattacharjee was very popular when he embarked on his industrialisation drive. What he got wrong was his modus operandi. That lesson,and a dose of humility,will do the CPM good.