The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Backs to the wall now, Left, Cong close ranks from grassroots up
From Whatsapp groups to rallies, the partners are working together
ON A hot day early this month, at Nabagram’s CPI(M) area committee office in the Jangipur Lok Sabha seat in West Bengal's Murshidabad district, local party leader Sanjib Pandey went into a huddle with the congress' s block president, Dhirendranath Yadav, and its anchal chief Sujoy Ghosh to discuss their poll strategies. Outside, the flags of both the parties fluttered in the wind.
The three leaders said in unison later how both the CPI(M)LED Left and the Congress in Bengal are fighting the ongoing Lok Sabha elections with their backs to the wall as their alliance takes on the ruling Mamata Banerjee-led TMC and the principal Opposition BJP.
From sharing party offices and Whatsapp groups to forming coordination committees – the Left and Congress are going all out to ensure that their alliance is viable, and may help kickstart their revival in the state.
This is evident across the state, from the Maldaha region in North Bengal to the crucial belts of Murshidabad, Birbhum and Kolkata in South Bengal.
As part of their seat-sharing agreement, out of the state's 42 constituencies, the Congress is fighting 12 seats while the Left is contesting 30. Both allies are however also having “friendly fights” in two constituencies, Purulia and Cooch Behar.
In the Jangipur seat, which went to polls in the third phase on May 7, the leaders and workers of both camps rallied round Congress candidate Mortaja Hossain, who is pitted against incumbent TMC MP Khalilur Rahaman. “We both are now ‘jot karmis (alliance workers)'. For both the parties, this may be our last chance for survival and revival,” said Sanjib Pandey, 65.
“I have seen the Congress regime in Bengal, and then the (34-year) Left rule. Then came TMC (in 2011). Things have changed and this (Left-congress tie-up) is the need of the hour,” said Pandey. “After the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992, we realised that we have to fight against communalism. Now, 30 years later, our alliance is finally working on the ground.”
Beside him, a Congress leader D hire nd ran aths aid ," bothcpi(m) and congress workers now re ali se that there is no alternative other than to fight communal forces like the TMC and BJP. ”
About 40 km away from Nabagram, the CPI(M)'S Nalhati area committee office in the Birbhum parliamentary constituency featured a large cutout of Congress candidate Milton Rashid along with Rahul, state Congress chief Adhir Chowdhury and state CPI(M) secretary Md Salim, beside a picture of Lenin. “This is 'hridoyer jot (alliance from the heart)'. Though the seat-sharing was finalised by our top leaders, the push came from our grassroot workers," said Sanjib Burman, the CPI(M)'S Birbhum district secretariat member.
Giving details about their alliance mechanism, Burman said, “Joint coordination committees have been set up from the district level down to booths. In each of these panels, one member each from the CPI(M) and Congress is joint convener. Joint political programmes are drawn up as per each party’s strengths in their respective areas.”
In some belts, the Leftcongress alliance has faced hurdles too. Sitting in an empty Congress office in Bhawanipur, the party's South Kolkata district president, Pradip Prasad, said, “In South Bengal, there was a chance for a robust understanding between the two allies. But that did not happen. Our leadership allowed the Left to put up candidates where we are strong.”
Prasad also said, “Secondly, where we are not contesting but supporting the Left, where are the funds for campaign, flags and banners? How long will we spend from our pockets?”
In several areas, however, the two sides have been able to resolve their differences. In Maldaha Uttar, the Congress's Mostaque Alam is the alliance's candidate against incumbent BJP MP Khagen Murmu.
In the Diamond Harbour seat in South 24 Parganas, which is going to vote in the seventh phase on June 1, state Congress spokesman Soumya Aich Roy campaigned last Friday for CPI(M) candidate Pratikur Rahman, who is pitted against the TMC'S No. 2 and sitting MP, Abhishek Banerjee.
The Left and the Congress first made seat adjustment in the 2016 Assembly polls, when they got 26 seats and 44, respectively, of the state's 294 seats, as compared to the TMC'S 211 and the BJP'S 3 seats. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, they fought separately, winning zero and 2 seats, respectively, out of the total 42, with the TMC and BJP winning 22 and 18 seats respectively. In the 2021 Assembly polls, the Left and the Congress again stitched an alliance, but both drew a blank. The TMC swept the state for the third consecutive time, bagging 215 seats as against the BJP'S 77.
In the 2023 panchayat polls, the TMC garnered 51% votes against the Left-congress-indian Seculare Force (ISF) combine's 23% and the BJP'S 22% votes.