When CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat came to address the media after his party’s rout in Kerala and an unprecedented loss in West Bengal, there was a feeling of unreality.
Till Friday the Left looked like contenders at the Centre, as leaders of a significant alliance. On Saturday, Karat faced the fact of the Left’s marginalisation.
The loss, Karat admitted, “will be introspected and examined.”
Senior Left leaders said that while a bad result in Kerala was expected, it was West Bengal that has astounded the party with the worst result in 32 years.
“There were several reasons, beginning with the land acquisition for industrial projects and the agitations it led to in Singur and Nandigram. That alienated a significant section in rural areas,” said a senior Left leader.
“The Rizwanur murder case and mishandling of investigations alienated the minorities. Therefore, two major sections of voters deserted the Left for the Congress-Trinamool Congress Mahajot,” he said. Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee may well lose his job soon.
The mistakes in Kerala were no less costly. Taking the Ponnani seat away from Left ally Janata Dal (S) and giving it to an Independent candidate backed by Coimbatore blast accused Abdul Madani’s Islamic outfit alienated the Left’s largely Nair-Hindu vote bank. The Left, which could have saved a few more seats in Kerala due to infighting in the state Congress, was left with only four of the 20 seats there.
The way forward for the Left, especially the CPI(M), is to go through a period of introspection. Whether anti-Congressism and secular politics go hand-in-hand and whether ideological rigor and pragmatic deal-making can be reconciled. The party will question Prakash Karat and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee before it regroups soon for the Assembly polls in 2011.
