Biman Bose , chairman of the Left Front in West Bengal since 2001, had been CPI(M) State secretary from 2006 to 2015. He talks to Smita Guptaabout the Assembly elections, the difficulties the Left is facing in reviving itself and the “suffocating” conditions created by the Trinamool Congress government that forced the Left Front to undertake seat adjustments with other parties.
Why did the Left Front forge an understanding with other parties?
[W]hen they [Trinamool] came to power, they started taking revenge, starting with the murders of our workers Jiten Nandy and Pratima Khadui. In almost 20 districts, they attacked CPI(M) workers, ordinary citizens, Congress and even BJP workers. It culminated in internecine warfare within the Trinamool. In fact, the number of Trinamool workers murdered because of intra-party rivalries is no less than the number of Left members killed. A reign of lawlessness developed. They forced almost 50,000 of our workers out of their homes, filed close to 29,000 false cases, largely with non-bailable sections, against them and forcibly stopped us from holding public meetings.
When the Saradha scam was exposed in 2012,… [f]ear that their money wouldn’t be returned led many depositors to commit suicide. Farmers who stopped getting a support price for their produce made distress sales; many, unable to return loans, killed themselves. Several tea gardens closed down, governmental protections for workers were withdrawn, forcing many to kill themselves — others died of starvation … Dunlop, Jessop, Hindustan Motors closed down; the jute mills started closing one after the other.
But jute mills were closing down in your time too?
In our time, nine, 10 closed, but they reopened again. Now 26 jute mills have closed down. And no new industries have come up. There are no new opportunities for workers and those who had jobs are out of work.
So you are saying discontent was growing.
In 2015, a demand started coming from the bottom that the Trinamool must be ousted, and the BJP blocked; [and to achieve this] everyone else must unite, a jot or front must be formed. With democracy and individual constitutional civil rights being crushed, we decided in the party and in the LF to start a movement for the restoration of democracy… 2016 drew near. Public pressure for a comprehensive alternative to oust the Trinamool and the BJP grew. So we decided on seat adjustments with other parties.
People are asking what will happen if you win: well, we’ll form a government. There will be no problem to formulate a common programme. Thus far, there is only a programme of the Left Front.
But the CPI(M) has been sharing a platform with the Congress?
We are organising our meetings; our leaders attend them. Congress leaders occasionally attend these meetings, but we aren’t inviting them.
You are not attending meetings organised by the Congress.
Not yet, but we are supporting Congress candidates. I did a roadshow for a JD(U) candidate in Howrah Central.
It’s not just the media. In the villages, too, people refer to it as a jot …
The people in the villages understand that this is to prevent the division of anti-Trinamool votes. Even those not so well-educated understand that, even if they don’t comprehend the finer political distinctions.
So this strategy is working.
Yes, because public perception and pressure is creating unity of the people. Non-political people, even those who supported the Trinamool, are shifting their support to Left, secular, democratic candidates.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been saying in her speeches that the Left has no right to lecture others on democracy as when it was in power, it, too, attacked democracy. After all, the Left eventually lost power because people…
I got your point. In 2011, the Trinamool got a majority because there was democracy. In 2009, the Trinamool won many parliamentary seats. If there was no democracy during the Left regime, how did they win those seats? People at that time had the right to vote. They didn’t like Left candidates; so they voted for the Trinamool. But today, they are trying to curb the people’s right to vote.
But people are still determined to cast their votes, with the undaunted spirit of tearing out the Trinamool from the government … The people know how the assets of Trinamool candidates have grown by 180 per cent, 200 per cent, 250 per cent: it’s there in their affidavits. Show me one similar instance of a Minister during the Left Front regime of 34 years.
Trinamool ministers are looting money. One leader, who is also a candidate, said that minus the syndicate, the Trinamool can’t exist… That is totally brazen. When the Naradha sting showed Trinamool leaders taking money, they first said it was a fabrication. Now they say, we’ll investigate but can thieves investigate other thieves?
In 2013, the Trinamool won the panchayat polls; in 2015, the municipal elections. With that kind of strength on the ground, how can you defeat the party?
One reason for seat adjustments was the lack of free and fair polls in 2013 and 2015, since they were under the jurisdiction of the State administration and the State Election Commission. Democracy didn’t see the light of day in those elections.
In panchayats and municipalities where the Trinamool didn’t win, they used force and money to compel elected persons to change their allegiance. Till then, horse-trading was unknown in our State.
