CPIM resurgence in Bengal worries BJP central leadership

The dazzle of unrestricted and uninterrupted power of 34 years came to an end for the organisational behemoth, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPIM) in 2011. But as we know ‘power corrupts’ and absolute power corrupts absolutely’ – the Trinamool Congress’s rule of 12 years is also unraveling itself. But in the past one year, it is not the principal opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), but the CPIM, which has reaped the political dividends of people’s outrage against the TMC.

The Problem

Each day, hundreds of TMC supporters are joining the CPIM- from the tea gardens of Dooars to South Bengal. Thousands welcome these CPIM rallies. A vibrant and young breed of the Left has taken the mantle of leading the dying organisation. But it has taken a few months for the BJP’s hawk-eyed national leadership has taken note.

Home Minister Amit Shah visited Kolkata on December 16, 2022, on an official visit. He made an unscheduled visit to the BJP state headquarters straight from the airport. The state leadership, which was attending a meeting of Hooghly district, rushed back to meet Shah. Insiders say, the meeting lasted thirty minutes. Shah’s moot point – “why are votes for the Left increasing? What is the leadership doing to arrest that? Take your campaign to the grassroots and figure out”.

The state leadership has realised that the party is ceding ground to the CPIM. Only 25 per cent booth committee has been formed, many BJP workers are still homeless after the post-poll violence, and there is no connection between grassroots workers and the state leaders. The CPIM, which has over a 50-year-old cadre-based organisational structure in the state, is opening newer political avenues to challenge the TMC. The Left seems to have become the principal opposition. The Left’s campaign of ‘Didi-Modi setting’ and social media messaging against corruption has gained currency among the people.

The Strategy

The BJP in Bengal now faces two challenges. It has to fight the TMC and counter the CPIM’s rise. Insiders say, the new strategy is to equate TMC’s alleged corruption and misrule to that of the Left regime of 34 years. And organise more micro meetings and rallies involving grassroots workers in this campaign.

The focus on tirades against the ruling party’s corruption and campaigning the benefits of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s social welfare schemes, have taken a backseat. State leaders, from Suvendu Adhikari, BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar, Lok Sabha MP Dilip Ghosh to spokesperson and former MLA Shamik Bhattacharya, are talking more about the Left than the alleged recruitment scams and agency grilling of TMC leaders.

This is why Suvendu Adhikari, the firebrand principal face against the TMC, brings back memories of the arrests and illegal detentions made by the Left administration after Maoists attacked the convoy of the then Steel Minister Ram Vilas Paswan and Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya’s in 2008, while talking of the arrests made under the recent Abhishek Banerjee convoy attack case.

A section of the state BJP sees this rise of the Left as a deliberate ceding of ground by the TMC. “This is TMC’s gameplan. They are giving space to the Left to counter our rise. This is why we have to highlight and bring back the Left’s follies to the people. People should not get confused and think of the Left as the saviour. This is why there is a new approach to our campaign.”.

Three political parties are in a political competition to win the people. Can refreshing memories of people help the BJP to crawl back in the opposition space? Which way the wind blows? It is less than year to go before the Lok Sabha polls.