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The case of West Bengal is a classical study that indicates how copybook communists conforming to different shades of ideologies ranging from pink socialism to hardcore Marxism Leninism have grappled with the realities of Statecraft in order to continue in office for close to three decades since 1977 when they first came to power following the conclusion of the infamous Emergency (1975-77).

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has always led the successive Left Front Governments that have ruled West Bengal since 1977 when the first Left Front Government came to power riding the wave of the historic socialist movement led by veteran leader Jayaprakash (JP) Narayan. Prominent Left Front allies have been the Communist Party of India (that joined later), the Forward Bloc and the Revolutionary Socialist Party. Other smaller parties are also part of this ruling coalition.

We would concentrate exclusively on the evolution of the CPI (M) as the leading party in power that has effectively tackled the demerits of incumbency to institutionalize a series of stints in government that has redefined the meaning of regime in order to identify it with the more value loaded term of hegemony. The party has effectively reconciled the apparently divergent trends of movement and government so as to evolve as a unique practical political outfit that depends on organization, entrenchment, networks, patron-client relationships and a pragmatic pro-people/pro-poor image that can radically declass itself as and when required.

The first ever Left Front Government adopted certain important policy decisions. These were relevant in the volatile political context of the mid-1970s when the single party dominant rule of the monolithic Indian National Congress led by Indira Gandhi was effectively challenged by the upsurge of an alternative politics that was supposed to have emerged from the grassroots and supported by local as well as regional long-term aims and aspirations.

Such new political ambitions were not entirely unexpected. A long and sustained period of Congress rule had led to a profound sense of relative deprivation on the part of the local political actors that were eager to play in the multicultural and pluralist political arena of the Indian liberal democratic system. Another critical factor that was operational in this regard in West Bengal was the mis-governance factor.

West Bengal was not properly governed during the decade of 1967-77 that has been described by various political scientists and social historians as the critical and disturbed period of interregnum that was provoked by successive Union Front Governments led by Ajoy Mukerjee of Bangla Congress that was a breakaway splinter from the ruling Congress Party led by Prafulla Chandra Sen. Profound cabinet instability marked both the Union Front Governments that were formed in 1967 and 1969.

Jyoti Basu of the CPI (M) happened to be the Deputy Chief Minister in Ajoy Mukherjee’s Cabinet. This was an ideological dichotomy of the Union Front Governments that experimented with strange bedfellows like the communists (who were more radical in their political outlook at this point of time) and the mainstream Bangla Congress leadership that was more comfortable with the centrist mode of politics informed by the norms and conventions of the parliamentary democratic system.

Radical firebrand leaders such as Harekrishna Konar and Subodh Banerjee led the land grab and gherao movements to ensure social justice in the state. But the fact that they themselves were part of the Establishment during this period confused their political agenda further and subsequently led to a period of total anarchy and misrule against a most volatile political background that ultimately facilitated growth of the well-known Naxalite Movement during the late 1960s till the early 1970s.

The incidents of armed insurgency led by the Maoist outfits (that maintain liaison with their counterparts in Nepal and Sri Lanka) in West Bengal during the present decade point to the fact that the basic tenets of organized protest are still very much present in the state. Poverty, inadequate development, unemployment etc continue to haunt the communists in office.

Even starvation deaths have been reported widely in the popular media. Security forces have cracked down upon the militants while the rebels themselves have inflicted heavy casualties on the police personnel deployed in the arid and generally backward districts such as Purulia, Bankura and West Midnapore.

The Maoist rebels who frequent the forest areas of these districts are heavily armed and use remote controlled explosives and ant-personnel landmines to challenge the police forces. Their communication networks are well-maintained and the local villagers act as their conduits of information either for fear or favor.

These rebels are also located in states like Andhra Pradesh and Bihar where they fight bloody wars with the security forces and illegal private armies of feudal landlords. Maoist rebels are gradually trying to establish a regional alliance in South Asia. They have already influenced the course of history in neighboring Nepal where the King has been forced to usher in an era of parliamentary constitutional reforms led by the democratic parties.

Indian communist leaders have even taken part in deliberations with the Maoist leaders of Nepal to initiate this process of a historic transfer of power. This indicates a steady understanding between the CPM and the Maoists in the international context while the picture is entirely different in the case of West Bengal. 

August 6, 2006

Top | Kolkata Diary

The Week of August 6, 2006      
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Of Wolves, Lambs, Foxes and Monkeys by Gaurang Bhatt, MD  
Global (Dis)Order by Col. Rahul K. Bhonsle  
Four Fold Menace: A Nexus of Enveloping Evil by V. Sundaram 
The British Never Quit India by Nancy Freeman Patchen
Populist Governance by Dr. Prasenjit Maiti 
Education for Development by TA Ramesh 
Play Safe while Catching Raindrops by VK Joshi 
Emerging Technologies for Parents by Ruchi Gupta 
Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny by Aruni Mukherjee 
Traversing the Indian Mindscape by Rajesh Talwar
Bengali Riddles by Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
The Witty Side by Melvin Durai
How Many Indians? by Naghma Masroor  
Danger Zone for Kids by Deepti Priya Mehrotra  
Assault on Rights by Linda Light
Being Raped Again - In Court by Rorie R Fajardo 
We Need Leaders Not Revolutionaries by Mehru Jaffer   
Future Shocks by Swapna Majumdar  
Driving Her Train by Neeta Lal