Left goes digital,scripts Nandigram,Singur stories to win back rural Bengal

All the 26,000-odd party units throughout the state have been asked to show the audio-video CDs in their respective areas.

“The idea is still in a preliminary stage,” says CITU state president Shyamal Chakraborty,in-charge of producing these CDs,adding that the party will produce a full length film on the issue.

Another reason for adopting the modern mass communication tool is that the CPM lacks crowd-pullers and stalwarts like Jyoti Basu,sources say.

So,the party’s election strategists have decided to take the help of modern equipment to attract voters,especially the young voters in rural Bengal.

The party has already produced a CD comprising Basu’s speech which will be distributed after April 16. “More are coming. The party has planned to make CDs of the conflict areas in Bengal politics,” said a senior leader of the CPM.

On Friday,one of the CPM-backed directors of a city theatre gave a sneak preview of the proposed film on Singur to a select group of CITU leaders.

“First,we will see this and then it will be distributed among the supporters,” said CITU state secretary Kali Ghosh.

Sources in the CITU said the rushes contain details on the case of Suhrid Dutta,who was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation on charges of masterminding the gruesome murder of teenager Tapasi Malik. “The film will show how he was implicated in the case,” said a leader.

“Suhrid Dutta’s case has tarnished the image of the party,so we have to react. We think this issue is still alive in the minds of the people,” he added.