Re: [nukkad] Verdict is Yours : 118

[Maloy Manna <>]

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My 2 cents on why the Left has been successful in Bengal.
 
1. Integrity of Left's top leaders - you'll rarely find a turncoat like you 
find in the other parties. The Left has also always maintained that communalism 
is evil #1 (BJP), followed by evil #2 (Congress), and remained pro-Cuba/China 
and anti-US with no change in its position over the years. Several top leaders 
e.g. the current CM Buddhababu live a simple life without any flaunting of 
wealth (vs Mayawati / Amar Singh).
 
2. Consistent identity politics - The Left has always identified with the poor 
- agricultural or industrial. They have cocked a snook at the nouveau-riche, 
the stock markets, the liberalization/globalization agenda and remained true to 
their mass support base. 
 
3. Poverty alleviation and land reforms - Bengal was one of the poorest and 
most malnourished states when the Left came to power. Their land reforms was a 
success, and there is no more crippling poverty and famine like conditions. 
Even with the endemic corruption in India, Bengal has a reasonably functional 
public distribution system.
 
4. Failure of other parties- The Left has been successful in portraying the 
Congress as anti-poor. Identifying with the elite Gandhi family never worked 
here for Congress. Bengal has little tolerance for the antics of the BJP, not 
the least due to Ram being considered here to be a mythical figure and not a 
god. Even after the partition of Bengal in the early 20th century, there still 
remains a sizeable population of Muslims in Bengal - in urban pockets of 
Kolkata as well as in the Sultanate districts like Murshidabad. 
 
5. Prices - If you've been to Kolkata, you'll know that the price levels in 
this metro is way below any other comparable city or town. In most of Bengal, 
the same holds true. Inflation is a very sensitive issue here due to the low 
income levels, which is why the Left as well as Mamta have no alternative than 
protest every price hike.
 
6. Organization - Long before the BJP and the Sangh parivar understood the 
importance of a cadre-based party, the Left had perfected the organizational 
framework in Bengal. The 'Party' has become the most important element in the 
lives of people. 
Need to get a job, to get a gas connection, to get a contract, to get through 
the red-tape of bureaucracy, and you better have connections with someone in 
the 'Party'. 
Feud with your tenants - get hold of the local 'Party' boys to teach them a 
lesson. 
The local 'Party' branch is always up-to-date with the voters' list and of 
course the officers in the voting booths have 'Party connections'. Rigging 
through "chappa votes" (votes stamped by cadres who take over the polling 
booth) is not required everywhere - only in places where the opposition is 
strong. 
Visit any college/university and the all powerful student union is almost 
inevitably being run by the SFI.
Marx might have said that religion is the opium of the masses, but that doesn't 
prohibit the Left to put up stalls at every other Durga puja pandal to 
distribute its propaganda material and communist literature.
There having been no change of government there in the last 3 decades, the 
police doesn't need to switch allegiances and functions as an important element 
of the 'party'.
 
7. Role of intelligentsia - At a time when Bengal was very poor - after the 
WWII and the Bengal famine, the Naxalite movement created a strong impression 
on young minds, several of who grew up to become major poets (Subhash 
Mukhopadhyay, Shakti Chattopadhyay) or film-makers (Ritwik Ghatak, Mrinal Sen) 
and theatre personalities (Sombhu Mitra, IPTA's Utpal Dutt / Salil Chowdhury). 
Due to a conducive climate, the intelligentsia never denounced communism, 
rather generated debates on the implementation and course corrections required 
in the communist regime. 
 
~Maloy
 
 


      
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