Author: Tirthankar Mitra
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: May 7, 2003
The CPI-M is anything but democratic,
and Opposition parties everything but visible in the villages. TIRTHANKAR
MITRA weighs the might of the ruling coalition before the panchayat polls
EVEN the most diehard Opposition
supporter in West Bengal cannot deny that the Left Front, with the CPI-M
in the lead, is poised to sweep the panchayat polls scheduled for 11 May.
But even if the Left Front wins, it won't necessarily indicate the 30-million
electorate's faith in the ruling coalition.
The reasons are not far to seek
because the Opposition does not have a level playing field against the
Front candidates, thanks to the widespread intimidation on the eve of filing
nominations. Things came to such a pass that even a written appeal by Buddhadeb
Bhattacharjee to his partymen to let Opposition candidates file their nomination
papers "in the interest of democracy" did not cut much ice.
Even as the cadres were in two minds
after the chief minister's appeal, Anil Biswas, state CPI-M unit secretary,
put all doubts to rest. He saw nothing unnatural in the call of his party's
district secretary in Midnapore (West) that the latter would escort Opposition
candidates to the officers to file his nomination.
It didn't strike Biswas that an
Opposition candidate would lose all credibility in the eyes of the electorate
if he/she is escorted by a CPI-M leader to file his/her nomination papers.
In other words, such a candidate would be appear to be a dummy candidate.
And the Opposition has not been
the sole recipient of the Left Front ''Big Brother's'' bludgeoning in the
panchayat elections. Simmering dissensions among the Front partners too
has been exposed this time. The Revolutionary Socialist Party and the Forward
Bloc are both pointing fingers at the CPI-M as the polls draw closer. On
the other hand, both have been the targets of attack of some CPI-M cadres.
Many people who have joined the
CPI-M have little or nothing to do with ideology. More than a quarter century
in power has rusted the CPI-M's machinery to screen the entry of new cadres.
These elements, both in the city and the rural areas, have embedded themselves
into the organisation, often leading to inter-party clashes. These flare-ups
have had little to do with political differences; instead they usually
start with petty vested interests. Attempts have been made to cover up
such incidents as "political clashes".
A series of talks between the Front
leaders to patch up things followed. But matters didn't improve much in
the rural areas.
Teachers who once comprised the
bulk of panchayat nominees, are now being discouraged to contest the elections.
Because there have been reports of some candidates shirking their teaching
responsibilities on the pretext of attending to panchayat work.
Unless compelled, teachers elected
as CPI-M candidates are unlikely to be given leadership posts in the gram
panchayats, Left Front chairman Biman Bose said. Only if a teacher can
contribute more to society as panchayat leader would he be allowed to forego
his profession, he said. And the nub of the matter lies here. Bhattacharjee's
appeal seems to have fallen on deaf ears because all uncertainties over
the results are past tense now, if reports of Congress, Trinamul and BJP
candidates being intimidated in the districts are anything to go by.
An accused in a carnage being nominated
by the CPI-M drives home the point. The necessity of fielding a candidate
without any blemishes is apparently overlooked.
But some of the most unpleasant
facts surface when the party leadership tries to paint its cadres and leaders
clean. A zonal committee leader is expelled because of his alleged involvement
in looting and sexually assaulting members of a marriage party in Dhantala,
Nadia, with Biswas coming up with an inane explanation that such incidents
were being engineered. The incident was not an isolated one. Such incidents
have occurred in Cooch Behar and Goaltore in Midnapore, too.
No wonder, the powers that be are
averse to taking chances for fear of upsetting the political balance in
rural areas which is at present in its favour. Given a choice, the people
might just upset the balance shedding the tag of committed voters in the
process.
The CPI-M prefers to win elections
without an Opposition. Not letting Opposition candidates - comprising disparate
forces as the Congress, Trinamul and the BJP - file nominations is preferable
to losing. It's true that the Trinamul is yet to get its act together.
The Congress with a pat on its back from Biman Bose is yet to make up its
mind about its main adversary - the BJP or the Trinamul or the CPI-M.
The BJP and Trinamul are criticised
at the slightest opportunity by the state Congress leaders. But the CPI-M
remains its main political foe. But merely issuing anti-Left Front statements
and shouting anti-CPI(M) slogans won't get it votes in the rural areas.
The fact is the peasants' wing of the three major Opposition parties is
no match to the Krishak Sabha, the CPI-M's peasants' wing.
After the debacle in the 2001 Assembly
elections, the Trinamul didn't care to build its base in the villages.
Its leadership merely dissociated itself from the Congress and let things
take their course. Moreover, it overlooked the fact that many of the seats
won by the Trinamul were in the city and suburban areas and not in the
rural part of the state. Complacent after their success, many of them didn't
even realise the obvious: that they had won in erstwhile Congress bastions
and had hardly been able to siege any red citadel.
Front partners, such as the RSP
and the Forward Bloc, and the Socialist Unity Centre of India are better
equipped to oppose/thwart attempts to prevent their candidates from filing
nomination papers. Their organisational structure is stronger in the rural
areas. And unlike the Trinamul leadership they do some soul searching.
This compensates for enjoying less popular support than the Trinamul which
has let another opportunity to strike at the Left Front's rural bases slip
through.
(The author is Kolkata-based Special
Representative of The Statesman.)
