Has Jyoti Basu become CPM’s last resort in Bengal?

Jyoti Basu was the only communist in Independent India who could rise to the chair of the prime minister – if only his party had allowed it to happen. In the event, his party declined and Basu would later lampoon the decision openly, describing it as a “historical blunder”. Less than four years after this opportunity in 1996, he was out of office as West Bengal’s longest-serving chief with an impressive scorecard of an unbeaten 23 years (1977-2000). Soon after this, he virtually retired from active politics and died in January 2010, at age 96.

Soon after Basu’s death, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or the CPM lost power in the state that was seen as its unbreachable fortress. Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress came to power in 2011 after a 34-year Left reign. A decade since, the CPM is a shadow of its former self. The party has been relegated to the fringes of Bengal politics. As a resurgent BJP eyes the state hungrily, and Mamata Banerjee seeks to defend her turf, the CPM it seems has been left with no option but to turn to Basu to fend off irrelevance in the upcoming Assembly polls.

Jyotibabu’s birthday celebrations

In a big break from the past for a group that is avowedly against personality cults and does not even celebrate the birthday of key organisation leader Promode Dasgupta (1910-1982), the CPM has decided to make a splash on the occasion of Basu’s 106th birthday on June 8. Perhaps the only exception is ‘Kakababu’ Muzaffar Ahmed (1889-1973), a revolutionary and a communist. Now Jyotibabu finds himself in his company.

The party has invited photos, videos, graphics and drawings on Basu from the common people, and all these are being exhibited on social media. The whole effort has been named ‘Aapnar chokhe Jyoti Basu’ (Jyoti Basu through your eyes).

This is, without doubt, an effort to rekindle the memory of a legendary Communist, during whose rule the very socio-political character of Bengal underwent dramatic change. During the first ten years of the Left rule, for instance, the bargadars or sharecroppers got tenancy rights over the land, the rights of factory workers were protected by the state and the social rights of the poor were established too.

But beyond that the initiative also reveals three other distinct developments as far as current political trends go: First, the Left is so ideologically weak now that it has nothing to attract a new generation of voters. The nuances of Marxist ideology could never be grasped well by the man on the street. Now, the younger generation, who make up a majority of the voters, do not even seem interested. But they too have heard of Jyoti Basu, the only Bengali who got a chance to lead the nation but had to relent to the conservative opinion in his party.

Second, it is likely that in the campaign for Assembly elections early next year, the Left may try to sell ‘Jyotibabu’s dreams’. The younger Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, who succeeded Basu as CM, cannot be used for attracting the masses. It is only Basu and his 24-year rule that can be packaged as the ‘golden days’ of the past when the poor were given priority.

Third, it will help them in fashioning a counter to the BJP’s use of Bharatiya Jan Sangh founder, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, as their icon in the state. BJP leaders often refer to Mukherjee in an attempt to claim that they too have deep roots in Bengal. The Trinamool Congress, unfortunately, has no such icon in their fold, born as it was in 1999.

Will the Basu tactic help?

When Basu stepped down in 2000, the Left came back to power the next year, thanks to his image and work. Back then, it was the pro-poor attitude that helped sway the people of Bengal to vote for the party. Alongside, it built a strong, intimidating organisation that discouraged many of its opponents from rural areas to come to the booth on polling day. In 2006, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya added a new plank of industrialisation and got huge thumbs up from the people.

But Bhattacharya’s desperate attempt to industrialise Bengal, which was the crying need of the hour, forced him to commit certain blunders by allowing the party to usurp the role of the police. Along with this, despite a fierce debate within the party, the message went out that any farmer’s land could be taken away any day by the state. The compensation package for acquisition too was not attractive. So, the people rejected Bhattacharya. The Left’s 49.6 per cent vote in 2006 slumped to 41 per cent in 2011. It lost out to the Trinamool-Congress combination.

Since then it has been a steep descent for the party and the Left alliance. In 2016, when they fought along with the Congress, the Left vote shrunk to 24 per cent. In 2019 Lok Sabha polls, it could not win a single seat from Bengal. Keeping all this in mind, the party’s use of Basu as an icon is not a bad strategy. But it remains far from clear whether they will be able to convince the people.

(Diptendra Raychaudhuri is a Kolkata-based journalist and author of books including, A Naxal Story. He is a deputy editor at the Bengali daily, Aajkal)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author’s own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.