The Left is being unrealistic

The CPM is being unrealistic. Reflecting on last month’s Assembly election in West Bengal, in which the Trinamul Congress led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee came up with an eye-popping victory, the leading Left party emerged with the view in its recent politburo meeting that allying with the Congress had been a mistake. Was this a considered view on grounds of ideological purity, or poor poll results, was not exactly made clear.

As for ideology, it’s hard to say what’s what any more. Would working class interests or those of agriculture labourers in West Bengal have been better served if the CPM-led Left had not had some kind of compact with the Congress? This is an argument which is hard to establish. But at the tactical level, both parties were principally fighting the ruling TMC with their back to the wall, as well as trying to keep the BJP at bay, for there is apprehension in some quarters that the saffron party is trying to replace the CPM as the principal Opposition force in the state.

Did it make sense in this scenario for the Congress and the Left to work together in the election, regardless of what happens in the state subsequently, or on the national stage? Or even if they were pitted against one another in Kerala? The truth is that the national leadership of neither party showed any interest in an alliance but were pushed in that direction by their cadres.

This is how the standard CPM national tactical line of going neither with the BJP nor with the Congress was thrown to the winds. Speaking intuitively, this could happen again and again in different parts of the country if circumstances were similar, even if the association is muted. Let’s look at the poll result in West Bengal.

The Congress clocked just under 10 per cent of the vote, which has roughly been its share in recent times. Basically this held firm, possibly aided by the Left to some extent. But the Left keeled over. The CPM saw a serious erosion in its vote share. Since its own vote went down so much, it is hard to construct the argument that the Congress votes did not transfer to it. The truth appears to be that the people in the state are not done rejecting it.

The process of Left-loathing in West Bengal, after three decades of Left-love, has yet to come full circle. In fact, the Congress could grumble, with some justification, that linking up with the CPM did not quite come off — not that there were any ideological devils in the pitch. The Left parties might gain from greater analytical frankness. Are they arguing that going solo might have been more profitable?