Since 1991, every government has tried to achieve the right mix between economic reforms and social welfare, between getting the support of the dominant elite and middle classes without alienating the urban and rural poor. But only the Left Front in West Bengal — at least for now — has managed it. The combination of Brand Buddha with a party organisation that has a deep and wide mass base enabled the CPI(M) to become — to rival constituencies — both the Left and the Right alternative, rendering the Congress and Trinamul Congress into vision-less non-entities.

The Congress-led UPA too harbours the same hope — to marry Manmohan Singh’s pro-reforms policies with the Sonia Gandhi-inspired “aam aadmi” initiatives. But India is not West Bengal and Congress is not the CPI(M). It might be a good idea for Rahul to intern with the Bengal CPI(M) for a year before he takes up the challenge of

reviving the Grand Old Party.

manini.chatterjee@expressindia.com