Kolkata: The CPM, which remained in power for 34 years in Bengal, turning the state into a Left bastion, is dying a slow death in the state.
While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) have been aggressively campaigning in all the constituencies, the CPM is hardly seen canvassing for their candidates. CPM flags and election rallies are rarely visible.
The party has hardly any workers to campaign for it. The vote share of the CPM has been on the decline in the state. In the 2014 general elections, the Left Front had managed to secure a vote share of 29% and just two seats out of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state, while in the 2016 Assembly elections in Bengal, the Left Front managed to get a little above 20% vote share.
According to many CPM leaders and grassroots workers, most of the cadre have moved to the TMC and recently, a major chunk of their workers joined the BJP. The BJP has managed to occupy the position of the main Opposition in Bengal.
One such former CPM worker, now working for the BJP, told this newspaper, “The CPM now has nothing in Bengal and the party did not even wish to revive itself, while the BJP started becoming stronger day by day. I did not want to join the TMC because it is for them that the CPM lost what it had in Bengal and, therefore, I joined the BJP to take on Mamata Banerjee. We are hopeful that the BJP will be able to bring down the TMC.”
In Bongaon Lok Sabha constituency’s Bongaon town, there is just one CPM office and even that remains mostly locked. The CPM has neither addressed any major rally in this constituency, nor has it done much of election campaigning, while the BJP and the TMC have a rally or a road show scheduled every day. Even many residents in this constituency are not aware if the CPM is even contesting this election.
Tapan Nag, a resident of Railpara in Bongaon where the CPM office is located, said, “We do not even know if the Left is contesting elections this time. There is hardly anything being done by them here. I do not see any CPM flags here also.”
Even travelling across
constituencies like Barrackpore, Barasat, Dum Dum, Krishnanagar, one can barely spot any posters, hoardings or flags of the CPM. There is some wall graffiti from which one gets to know that the CPM is also in the fray.
Residents here say that the CPM is barely campaigning for its candidates. Some of the election rallies
organised by the CPM are not seeing good turnouts. One such street corner meeting organised by the local CPM in Barasat earlier this week had hardly 20 people in
attendance.
Kalu Das, a resident of Barasat Lok Sabha constituency, told this correspondent, “The CPM is out of the race this time; in fact, there is no CPM anymore here. Every other day, we hear the TMC or the BJP campaigning and giving speeches, but the CPM has barely even campaigned here. It seems they have entered the race knowing that they will lose.”
A Kolkata-based CPM leader, who did not wish to be named, told this
newspaper, “We do not have the kind of money TMC and BJP has and, therefore, we cannot campaign as much as they can. We know that we can win only two seats from Bengal and all our attention is focused on these two seats. The party needs to bring in new ideas and newer people for it to survive in Bengal.”