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- Left With No Alternative
This story is from June 25, 2005
Left With No Alternative
In sweeping the civic polls in West Bengal, the CPM has proved a point - a fractious Opposition will never dislodge it from power.
Opposition in West Bengal lacks unity, vision
In sweeping the civic polls in West Bengal, the CPM has proved a point — a fractious Opposition will never dislodge it from power. Having ruled this state for 28 years, the reds are entrenched and dislodging them would need concerted, coherent Opposition. In front of TV cameras, Left Front leaders repeatedly harped on the fact that they faced no
contest from the Opposition — a divided lot without policies and ideological moorings.
The Left is right. Mamata Banerjee, the only credible face of the Opposition, continues to remain an urban phenomenon. She has an appeal among the middle and lower middle classes in urban areas. In the villages, Trinamul doesn't seem to have the reach. As a consequence, the party has failed to capitalise on specific issues. The recent spate of hunger deaths in the districts, for instance, was an opportunity to point out that all's not well in the rural hinterland.
In those days, one got to see a different Mamata. Her rhetoric was acid. She swayed crowds and connected with villagers. Now, she has mellowed. The anger is there, but it is bottled up. She inspires her boys, but in short bursts. There's no concerted action. In the life of any political party, there are crests and troughs. The trick lies in keeping the army on the move during long periods of political inactivity.
A political formation needs to create issues, capitalise on opportunities. If there are none, create them. But in order to do that the party's struggle needs to be issue-based, concerted and continuous. Now, Trinamul is primarily driven by dogged hatred for the Left. That has to transform into action. For that to happen, a party must build from the base. There seems to be no effort to do this. Mamata's party seems to have too many generals but few foot soldiers, many of them inactive.
Much of the Opposition leadership is Kolkata-centric — people who confine themselves to city politics and hardly ever venture out into the districts. But only a small percentage of votes comes from the city. West Bengal's electorate is primarily rural; if the Opposition leadership shows up in the villages once every five years it cuts no ice.
In Andhra Pradesh, Y S Rajasekhara Reddy's journey to power began, not in Hyderabad, but in Telangana — a large stretch of arid country he traversed in peak summer. He called Chandrababu Naidu's bluff there. When villager after villager walked up to him and talked of dry fields, crop failures and mounting debts, the Telugu Desam's urban-centric agenda was exposed.
But in West Bengal, with a year or so to go for assembly polls, the Opposition is at best contemplating, not even talking, unity. There are far too many leaders jostling for space. The Congress looks more an also-ran outfit. The party hardly has a leader with a mass base. Its challenge in the recent civic polls looked lacklustre. Mamata, on the other hand, has the fire and ability to be the change agent. But she's failed to build her party. She remains the lone woman on the deck. There's very little evidence of intellectual input that could help galvanise her party: A framework of policies her party stands for. To this day, very little is known on her outfit's ideological moorings.
Mamata clearly wants to nurture Kolkata's 19 lakh slum-dwellers as her possible constituency. She also has an appeal among the vast middle and lower middle-class population this city has. But she has to show them a future.
Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee provided her with an opening. There's a clear strand of opinion within the
Left parties that there has to be some probity in their electoral policies. The fact that a section within the Left fraternity is talking of toleration of dissent is encouraging. Trinamul could easily have exploited to its advantage the debate over whether there were police excesses during the civic polls. But the party's reaction was anaemic.
The Opposition needs to coalesce, if possible, through mergers and alliances. They must decide on an alternative line
of action and create policy that looks beyond the city. Jyoti Basu's repeated assertion on the Opposition falling short on niti and adarsha must be countered with a new vision.
West Bengal has seen a Left government for 28 years now. But if 2006 has to see a change of guard, that would depend on the credibility of the alternative the Opposition offers to the electorate. It's time to end the bickering and hammer out a coherent line.
In sweeping the civic polls in West Bengal, the CPM has proved a point — a fractious Opposition will never dislodge it from power. Having ruled this state for 28 years, the reds are entrenched and dislodging them would need concerted, coherent Opposition. In front of TV cameras, Left Front leaders repeatedly harped on the fact that they faced no
contest from the Opposition — a divided lot without policies and ideological moorings.
The Left is right. Mamata Banerjee, the only credible face of the Opposition, continues to remain an urban phenomenon. She has an appeal among the middle and lower middle classes in urban areas. In the villages, Trinamul doesn't seem to have the reach. As a consequence, the party has failed to capitalise on specific issues. The recent spate of hunger deaths in the districts, for instance, was an opportunity to point out that all's not well in the rural hinterland.
Whenever such tragedies occur, the party reacts with gusto. Mamata reaches flashpoints in a jiffy. But her party doesn't follow up with concerted action. In the initial days, though, Trinamul showed some sense of purpose and pushed the Left hard in areas such as Keshpur. Mamata's activism paid dividends.
In those days, one got to see a different Mamata. Her rhetoric was acid. She swayed crowds and connected with villagers. Now, she has mellowed. The anger is there, but it is bottled up. She inspires her boys, but in short bursts. There's no concerted action. In the life of any political party, there are crests and troughs. The trick lies in keeping the army on the move during long periods of political inactivity.
A political formation needs to create issues, capitalise on opportunities. If there are none, create them. But in order to do that the party's struggle needs to be issue-based, concerted and continuous. Now, Trinamul is primarily driven by dogged hatred for the Left. That has to transform into action. For that to happen, a party must build from the base. There seems to be no effort to do this. Mamata's party seems to have too many generals but few foot soldiers, many of them inactive.
Much of the Opposition leadership is Kolkata-centric — people who confine themselves to city politics and hardly ever venture out into the districts. But only a small percentage of votes comes from the city. West Bengal's electorate is primarily rural; if the Opposition leadership shows up in the villages once every five years it cuts no ice.
In Andhra Pradesh, Y S Rajasekhara Reddy's journey to power began, not in Hyderabad, but in Telangana — a large stretch of arid country he traversed in peak summer. He called Chandrababu Naidu's bluff there. When villager after villager walked up to him and talked of dry fields, crop failures and mounting debts, the Telugu Desam's urban-centric agenda was exposed.
But in West Bengal, with a year or so to go for assembly polls, the Opposition is at best contemplating, not even talking, unity. There are far too many leaders jostling for space. The Congress looks more an also-ran outfit. The party hardly has a leader with a mass base. Its challenge in the recent civic polls looked lacklustre. Mamata, on the other hand, has the fire and ability to be the change agent. But she's failed to build her party. She remains the lone woman on the deck. There's very little evidence of intellectual input that could help galvanise her party: A framework of policies her party stands for. To this day, very little is known on her outfit's ideological moorings.
Mamata clearly wants to nurture Kolkata's 19 lakh slum-dwellers as her possible constituency. She also has an appeal among the vast middle and lower middle-class population this city has. But she has to show them a future.
Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee provided her with an opening. There's a clear strand of opinion within the
Left parties that there has to be some probity in their electoral policies. The fact that a section within the Left fraternity is talking of toleration of dissent is encouraging. Trinamul could easily have exploited to its advantage the debate over whether there were police excesses during the civic polls. But the party's reaction was anaemic.
The Opposition needs to coalesce, if possible, through mergers and alliances. They must decide on an alternative line
of action and create policy that looks beyond the city. Jyoti Basu's repeated assertion on the Opposition falling short on niti and adarsha must be countered with a new vision.
West Bengal has seen a Left government for 28 years now. But if 2006 has to see a change of guard, that would depend on the credibility of the alternative the Opposition offers to the electorate. It's time to end the bickering and hammer out a coherent line.
End of Article
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