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    It will not be a bipolar contest in many seats: CPM’s Mohammed Salim

    Synopsis

    He said the pandemic has given the CPM, that was ousted in 2011 after being in power for 34 years in the state, an opportunity to renew its image among the people.

    Kolkata: As the Congress and Left parties embark on seat-sharing negotiations for the West Bengal assembly polls, the CPM is working towards making the alliance strong enough to be in direct contest with the BJP or the Trinamool Congress in at least seven of the 23 districts. For that, the party is trying to build an “anti-BJP alliance minus the TMC”, which might also include minority groups, CPM leader Mohammed Salim told ET.

    He said the pandemic has given the CPM, that was ousted in 2011 after being in power for 34 years in the state, an opportunity to renew its image among the people.

    “There was anger, and it took us ten years to mitigate that. The change is visible in mofussil areas. Today, people are saying that the TMC has made the situation worse, particularly political violence… This election is not just about Hindu- Muslim or Bengali-Non Bengali (issues). Because of Covid-19, questions are being asked about health infrastructure and the accountability of the government,” he said.

    “The TMC is not winning this election. Anti-incumbency has set in...But, as of now, even the BJP is not a clear winner. We are certain that this is a triangular contest, and our confidence comes from the way we have worked through this pandemic,” he said.

    “In districts such as Murshidabad and Malda we are sure that the TMC and BJP will not gain. We want the minority groups to join us, so that the vote is not split. In 2016, we understood that the BJP was only testing the waters by targeting only a few seats, and with the help of the RSS cadre, the TMC managed to gain in 100 seats. That is not likely to happen this time,” he said.

    “The MIM will not be able to cut much ice in Bengal. Since the Muslims here have undergone the tragedy of partition twice, they will only back a secular party. We are telling minority groups to come to us, and not go to MIM,” he added.

    Recently, AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi had met influential cleric of Furfura Sharif, Pirzada Abbas Siddiqui, and announced the possibility of fighting the polls together. CPM is the biggest constituent of the Left Front in Bengal. The other constituents are the CPI, Forward Bloc and RSP –– all in alliance with the Congress now.

    On issues such as CAA and NRC, people do not see any difference between the TMC and BJP. In Bengal, the activists were harassed as they were in Delhi and Maharashtra, Salim added.

    “Despite the lockdown, our activists were out on the streets, helping people make calls to reach their sons or daughters, helping children with online classes, distributing food, arranging ambulance services, running canteens for workers, organising medical care for non Covid-19 patients and conducting workshops on Covid-19 safety. In 1943-44, the Communist movement expanded here because of the relief work they undertook during the food crisis and amid fears of Japanese aggression. It is in the grain of the Left movement to reach out to the community, fight for the rights... We see the rigour coming back,” he said.

    “The number of young activists has increased in the past nine months. The Left in West Bengal today has more young activists than the BJP and TMC. That is a conscious change we are bringing about,” Salim added.

    In the 2016 assembly polls, the Left Front and the Congress together won 76 of the 294 seats, and got almost 38% vote share. The Congress won 44 seats, while the Left Front managed to bag only 32, with the CPM bagging 26 seats, RSP 3, CPI 1 and Forward Bloc 2. However, in 2019, the tie-up between both the parties did not materialise, resulting in dismal electoral performances.

    “What we are seeing is that there is a hysteria created before elections. So when Balakot happens, people here vote to defeat Pakistan, not the Left...We have made some course corrections,” Salim added.

    Arguing that the BJP was trying its best to make this election about Centre versus the state government, Salim blamed Mamata Banerjee’s style of politics for opening the doors of Bengal politics to both the RSS and Muslim parties.

    “Since 1992, it was Mamata who made the BJP acceptable to the people of Bengal. We kept the RSS and Muslim League away, but she took them all in. Hindu forces and Muslim fundamentalists felt it was important to obstruct the Left. She played with both of them, sometimes simultaneously, sometimes separately. The BJP used the TMC as a launchpad to grow here,” he said.

    In 2019, BJP won 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats and secured a vote share of 40.64%, only four seats short of TMC’s 22 seats with a 43.69% vote share.

    He also claimed that both the Centre and the state government were in denial about the state of rural, economic distress in Bengal.

    “The price per quintal of paddy was fixed at Rs 1,860, but farmers here are hardly getting Rs 1,200 and that too after protests. What is bothering them the most is they have to procure coupons from the local TMC people and the process is riddled with corruption. Nearly, 238 farmers have committed suicide in the state in the past 10 years,” he said.

    “The Centre dismantled the Food Corporation of India and TMC dismantled the Panchayati Raj system which was the fulcrum for all procurement earlier which has increased the farmers' dependence on middlemen,” he added.



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    ( Originally published on Jan 06, 2021 )
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