After Bengal rout,CPM brass (read Karat) comes under fire

Many of his comrades in West Bengal were united in their reaction: voters had trounced the CPM because they wanted a “stable,secular government” at the Centre and this turned out to be the UPA government,not the Third Front.

While this argument was also an alibi for the CPM’s failure of governance in West Bengal and its embarrassing infighting in Kerala,it was an unprecedented attack against the party’s “leadership” for withdrawing support to the UPA,letting the Congress walk into Mamata Banerjee’s waiting arms and the aggressive role Karat played in stitching together his fancy of a front that would form a “non-Congress,non-BJP” government.

Such a direct attack came from top West Bengal leaders,including Left Front chairman Biman Bose and its two defeated MPs Md Salim and Hannan Mollah.

They had reason to. Going by Assembly segments in West Bengal where elections are due in 2011,the Trinamool-Congress alliance has won in as many 196 Assembly segments out of a total of 294 — a two-thirds majority.

Ironically,the first public criticism came from Somnath Chatterjee,who just a couple of days ago expressed his desire to return to the CPM,when he said the “leadership in Delhi” was responsible for the debacle and had lost connect with the people. To rub it in,he added that if Karat’s conscience permits,he should consider quitting the post of General Secretary.

Asked to explain his defeat in Kolkata,Mohammed Salim said: “It is the Congress appeal for a stable government that caught the imagination of voters.” He admitted that the Sachar report — which slammed the state’s record on Muslim welfare — the Nandigram and the Singur issues combined to consolidate the Opposition votes.

Subash Chakrabarty,the outspoken CPM leader of the state committee who said last week that the party’s top leadership should face elections to feel the pulse the people,said today: “The collapse of the party began to accelerate after it withdrew support to the UPA government at the center.”

Mohammed Amin,the all-India general secretary of the CITU and Politburo member echoed this line: “The Congress’s stability plank attracted the voters. A large section of Muslims have moved away from the party. All these factors will come up for discussion at the Politburo and the central committee,” he said. Though a meeting of the central committee,scheduled for May 19,has been cancelled,the Politburo will meet on Monday.

Said Hannan Mollah,the CPM’s sitting MP from Uluberia who lost to the Trinamool Congress: “There has to be a debate within the party to discuss why we got so badly punished. Have we lost touch with the ground reality? Or else why should people vote against us in such overwhelming manner?”

Biman Bose,Politburo member and Left Front Chairman said that the results were “totally unexpected” and admitted that the “Congress wave” had breached the Left citadel. “The issue of a stable government has moved the electorate in favour of the Congress. We will go back to the people and find out the reasons for such a debacle,” said Bose. The “stability” issue was also echoed by CPM Politburo member Sitaram Yechury in New Delhi.

Raghunath Kusari,secretary of the powerful Kolkata district committee and a state committee member of the CPI(M),said that more than the anti-Congress,anti-BJP plank of the party,the stability issue at the Centre haunted the voters. “The stability issue emerged as a big question and an all-India phenomenon. It seems this factor has overshadowed the issue of land acquisition and Nandigram,” said Kusari. “The party will have to find an answer to such issues,” he added.

CPM’s allies,too,rushed in to slam the leadership. “Singur and Nandigram definitely had an impact in Bengal. The Left’s space as a formidable force working for the interests of the poor and minorities was taken by the Trinamool Congress,” said Forward Bloc General Secretary Debabrata Biswas. “(The leadership) Kabhi Mayawati ke peeche bhage,kabhi TRS aur TDP ke peeche.” (Sometimes,they went after Mayawati,sometimes after TRS and TDP),” he added.

RSP leader Abani Roy was more blunt: “It is the doing of the CPM’s leadership. People have taught the Left parties a lesson now. The CPM leadership has become too arrogant,they completely lost touch with the masses.”

The CPM’s stunning defeat almost paralysed the state. By noon,roads in Kolkata were deserted. Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was one of the first to arrive at the party’s headquarters in Alimuddin Street at about 9 am when early trends began to show that the TMC-Congress candidates were surging ahead.

Bhattacharjee stayed in the party office for almost 11 hours stoking speculation that he had offered to was keen to step down,which senior leaders denied. “He is extremely upset but certainly not stepping down,” said a senior central committee member.