Five members of the Polit Bureau Communist Party of India ( Marxist) emphasised at a massive rally held at Brigade Parade grounds here on Sunday that despite the claims that it is loosing its political space to the Bharatiya Janta Party ( BJP) the CPI (M) and Left Front remains relevant in the politics of West Bengal.
Leaders including party’s general secretary Prakash Karat and former Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee stressed that the CPI (M) and Left Front cannot be overshadowed by the rise of BJP and “communal politics” in the State.
Referring to the huge turnout at the rally, Mr. Karat said that those who campaign the CPI (M) and Left Front were on its way out in Bengal should take a note of the lakhs of people gathered here.
“Our party — the CPI (M) and Left Front — is on firm footing here to take on the gundaraaj and corruption of the TMC and the communal politics of the BJP,” he added.
Speaking in the same vein, Mr. Bhattachjee refuted media reports claiming that it was time for the Left in Bengal to give way to the BJP. “They are saying ‘Bamera (the Left parties) should give way to Ram (BJP). We will never let this happen. Our fight against the BJP will continue,” he said.
Both of them stressed that the CPI (M) needs to be strengthened for larger Left unity which will take on both the “communal politics” of the BJP and the corruption of the TMC.
“An uncivilised and dishonest State government (of TMC) has turned Bengal into a hell hole. This rally is to prepare ourselves to oust this government from Bengal,” Mr. Bhattacharjee added.
CPI (M) State secretary and Left Front chairperson Biman Basu urged party workers to unite in protest against the TMC.
. “Come what may, rise in protest against such terror tactics (of TMC)…The only way to change this situation is to turn the movement of protest to that of resistance,” he said.
Responding to the remarks made at the rally both TMC and BJP, said that the CPI (M) claims were hollow.
TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee said that the CPI (M) had become “irrelevant to the people”. “They had claimed that there will be a crowd of 10 lakhs… I doubt whether there were about lakh people,” he added.
Admitting that the BJP is eating into the support base of Left parties State BJP president Rahul Sinha said that soon “we will wipe out whatever remains of the Left in Bengal”.
