Grabbing the Red Bastion

KOLKATA: CPM is trying to recapture the "red bastion" from Trinamul Congress. Ironically, to do this the party must overhaul its image and present itself as an advocate of consumerism.
There has been a sea change in the vote bank of the Left in an area where the general profile of residents have undergone a transformation because of a real estate boom.
Although the area returned West Bengal chief minister Buddhadev Dasgupta three years ago, the poor in South Calcutta''s Jadavpur constituency have given way to an educated middle class who are ready to sacrifice Marx for good living.
Property prices have soared thanks to a mushrooming of highrise apartments and because of the proximity to the Eastern Metropolitan, resulting in more affluent people arriving here.
Roads have been widened and cosmetic changes have camouflaged a place which used to be homes of economically weaker sections. In an effort to identify with blue chips and white collars, the CPM has undergone a dialectical transformation.
It has a website, database of voters and laptops. It wants to woo the new generation voters, the upwardly mobile who have computers and mobile phones.
"My aim is to change the mindset of the people about the CPM," says Sujan Chakrabarty, CPM candidate. "We are not only a party of, for and by the have-nots, lets face it. I want to project a bright image of the party."
With Congress opting for a low profile candidate, the battle lines are drawn between Chakrabarty and outgoing Trinamul M.P. Krishna Bose.
"Had we not committed the mistake of leaving the NDA, we would have been in a much better position. Personally, I have tried to help the people irrespective of their political colours," says Bose.
"My priorities were education, health and drinking water and I have spent all my MP LAD fund on this," he says. Bose, however, does not want to make any false promises.