LS poll debacle in Bengal: LF partners to deliberate on alliance issue with Congress
Kolkata: Following the Lok Sabha poll debacle, a section of the Left Front constituents in West Bengal on Wednesday questioned the decision of CPI(M) to have an alliance with the Congress in the state. The All India Forward Bloc, a partner of the Left Front, said Left supporters are "wary about Congress", keeping in mind the "attacks and atrocities" by the grand old party during its reign in West Bengal before 1977, the year the Left parties came to power in the state. It also said the arrests of Left leaders and the tale of the sufferings of Left supporters in that time cannot be obliterated.
Another Left Front constituent RSP said the party is holding discussions on various issues, including the reservation of a section of Left Front partners over the alliance with the Congress. Amid demand to re-evaluate the decision to have ties with the Congress in the state, the CPI(M) said no such move has been contemplated yet. In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the Left parties could not open their account in West Bengal while the Congress got the Malda Dakshin seat. "It is difficult to explain to the party rank and file and the large support base of the Left Front the rationale and compulsion to have an electoral alliance with the Congress which was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Left workers in the 70s, the burning of houses and the indiscriminate arrest of our leaders and activists when the Congress was in power in the 60s and 70s. "The major Left Front partner CPI(M) could not explain the rationale for sharing a stage with a party during election campaigning, which had gagged democracy in the days of emergency, " former MLA and Forward Bloc general secretary Naren Chatterjee said.
Except the "divisive politics" by the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre, the "economic and pro-corporate policies of the Narendra Modi dispensation" is the continuation of the policies pursued by the Congress-led UPA government on earlier occasions, he said. In the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, the AIFB had fielded candidates against the Congress in Purulia and Cooch Behar, all its strongholds in the past. RSP general Secretary Manoj Bhattacharya said while a section of the front and party supporters may have reservations against any alliance with the Congress, many others feel the "use of state power by TMC during the polls, the false narratives against the Left Front constituents and INDIA bloc by both BJP and TMC could not be effectively countered". The resentment of people against large-scale corruption did not get reflected in the EVM, he said.
"There are different schools of opinion within our party and we are listening, analysing and holding discussions among ourselves. We will deliberate on all these issues at our state-level Left Front meeting here soon and arrive at a decision," the senior Left leader said. "Any alliance (with Congress) may appear contradictory to the large base of Left supporters as well as to the people of Bengal and we could not be a party to that," Chatterjee said. The Forward Bloc leader said these issues will be deliberated at the Left Front meeting this month. CPIM central committee member Sujan Chakraborty said, "There has not been any decision to review the existing alliance with the state Congress at this juncture."
To a question on whether there is any possibility that the Left Front will go alone in the ensuing assembly by-poll to four seats on July 10, he said, "As of now, no such decisions about the by-poll has been taken. We will review everything and assess the situation in the coming Left Front meeting." In 2019, the Congress won two Lok Sabha seats as the alliance partner, and the Left parties drew blank. Despite the setback, the two sides entered into alliances in the 2021 assembly elections but failed to win a single seat.
