Looking for a way back in Bengal, CPI(M) sticks to bringing young leaders to the fore

The DYFI’s “Insaaf Brigade” rally was a culmination of its two-month-long statewide march — focussing on jobs and other livelihood issues — that began in November 2023 from Cooch Behar and concluded late December in Kolkata’s Jadavpur area. With party veterans Biman Bose, Surjya Kanta Misra and Sujan Chakraborty sitting at the front row on the podium, but youth leaders holding the fort, the DYFI’s rallying call was, “Jouboner daake, jonogoner brigade (Call of the youth is for a people’s Brigade)”.

At the rally, the spotlight was on several senior DYFI leaders such as Minakshi Mukherjee, A A Rahim, Himagnaraj Bhattacharya, and Kalatan Dasgupta, along with prominent names from the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) such as Srijan Bhattacharya and Pratikur Rahman. The official DYFI Twitter account highlighted the rally’s purpose, emphasising the need in West Bengal for jobs and redress for migrant labourers, unemployed teachers, and other oppressed communities.

DYFI state secretary Minakshi Mukherjee, 39, who the party has been promoting as the face to take on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee — she came third behind BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari and Mamata in the Assembly polls from Nandigram — said at the rally, “Our fight for a comeback has begun. This is no T20 match, but a test match. We will not flee from the battlefront, but fight till the end.”

A senior CPI(M) leader said, “We have been banking on the youth since the 2021 Assembly elections. During the Covid period, we realised how people of this state accepted our youth brigade as ‘Red Volunteers’. Even though the party fared poorly in the 2021 elections, it decided to continue putting its faith in the young faces that had come up by promoting them up the party ladder. That process is ongoing.”

The party functionary added, “The January 7 rally is a reflection of youth upsurge in the party. Inspired by today’s liberal youth, the party for the first time hoisted the national flag from its stage, started the rally with an anthem for the state, and followed it up with new-age songs by youth artists. While you may have spotted past rallies where the national flag was hoisted by the crowd along with SFI, DYFI, and CPI(M) flags, in the last 30 years that I have been attending rallies at the Brigade, I have never seen the national flag in such numbers, or on stage.”

Another CPIM leader said, “CPI(M)’s message through this rally was that their next generation leaders are Srijan Bhattacharya, Minakshi Mukherjee, and Abhash Roy Chowdhury. No veterans any more.”

In his speech, SFI state secretary Srijan Bhattacharya, who contested the 2021 election from Singur, also referred to the party’s effort to bring forward more young leaders. “Prothome bolechhilo, chhotora parbe to? Ekhon ulto gaoni gaichhe, ‘borora kothai?’ Borora achhe, thik acche… amra bolchhi, baap ko hath lagane se pehle bete se baat karna padega… (First, they said, ‘Can our youth lead?’ Now, they are saying, ‘Where are their elders?’ We are saying, ‘Our elders are there, and they are alright. But first, before you dare to touch our elders, you have to talk with the sons,’” Bhattacharya said, paraphrasing a dialogue from Shah Rukh Khan’s recent movie Jawaan.

A senior CPI(M) leader said, “We know this is a long road, but we will walk it. You will see all youth candidates in the Lok Sabha elections too.”

The party had bet on the youth in the 2021 Assembly elections too — more than half its candidates were below 40 years old — but minus the organisational heft and mass base it once enjoyed, the strategy backfired as none of them, including Minakshi, Srijan and former JNUSU president Aishie Ghosh, managed to win.

Neither the BJP nor the Trinamool Congress were impressed with the the show of youth power at Sunday’s rally. BJP leader Shamik Bhattacharya said, “A binary has been set in West Bengal. You either support the TMC or the BJP. This will be replicated in the Lok Sabha voting too.”

TMC leader Kunal Ghosh was more dismissive, saying, “Half of those who came to Brigade will vote for the BJP. The rest will vote for the TMC. They (CPIM) will remain with zero.”