<div>As we await the results on Thursday, the CPM and the Congress should be relieved that their unprecedented alliance in the West Bengal assembly elections went without being a subject of critical scrutiny. <br /><br />The two parties have been sworn rivals, historically. They have a long history of many bitter battles in Bengal. Even outside Bengal and the two other traditional Left-dominated states of Kerala and Tripura, there is hardly any instance of a direct electoral tie-up between them. So, the coming together of the two parties in Bengal is a rare political occurrence that merited far more attention than it got. <br /><br />The two parties did come together at the national level on a couple of occasions in post-poll cooperation to prop up government at the Centre - first in 1996 and then in 2004. On the first occasion, however, the CPM turned down a historic opportunity to lead a coalition government in Delhi, as it was hesitant to do so taking the Congress’ outside support. <br /><br />This missed opportunity had later prompted veteran party leader late Jyoti Basu to lament that it was a “historic blunder” to have foregone the opportunity to lead a government at the Centre. The CPM, along with the Congress, chose to prop up from outside two United Front governments, first one headed by H D Deve Gowda and the second one by I K Gujral.<br /><br />On the second occasion, in 2004, the Left party went on to extend its outside support to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government. It accepted the Lok Sabha Speaker’s post as well. As we know, the CPM withdrew its support four years later on the issue of Indo-US civil nuclear cooperation.<br /><br />On both the occasions, the CPM leadership deliberated its proposed move to cooperate with the Congress threadbare. It realised that a strong and credible justification was necessary to convince the party cadre and camp followers, particularly in stronghold states of Bengal, Kerala and Tripura where the Congress has been its principal rival. Hence, the leadership justified the party’s cooperation, citing the compulsions of combating mounting threats from the “communal BJP.”<br /><br />Vote share<br />As Bengal approached assembly polls, the BJP was hardly going to be a serious contender. Tho-ugh the BJP is in power at the Centre and had finished third in terms of vote share – in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections in the state – behind Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress and the CPM-led Left Front, its subsequent performance in byelections and local elections was poor. <br /><br />Therefore, the saffron threat factor that drove the Left party to collaborate with the Congress at the national level was a non-issue in Bengal. And, ideologically, the distance between the CPM and the Congress remains, though politically they have struck limited partnership to counter a rising BJP. But all that is outside Bengal.<br /><br />In Bengal, a campaign was afoot within the CPM as well as the Congress for a tie-up between the two parties for the assembly elections. The campaign did not remain within for long. By early February, it was in the open – top state level leaders of the two parties went public asking their central leaders for an electoral alliance. <br /><br />There was no ideological rationale for the tie-up; nor was there an overriding political compulsion. For both, it is a matter of political survival. The ruling Trinamool Congress under Mamata Banerjee has systematically marginalised the Congress after fighting the last assembly elections in 2011 together in an alliance.<br /><br />The CPM has lost much more. The party-led Left Front gave up its social base to the Trinamool in district after district in the last five years. The CPM workers, and even local leaders have shifted loyalty to the ruling Trinamool. Mamata has adopted many populist slogans of the Left. The situation has been rather despondent to Trinamool’s rivals, who accuse its regime of “destroying” Bengal.<br /><br />“Now West Bengal is being destroyed, it is necessary to prevent the state’s complete destruction. It should be stopped at any cost...” asserted former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee, a strong votary of the alliance between the Congress and the Left. He insisted that an alliance between the two parties was not just a “political option, but a necessity.” <br /><br />With the high priests of the alliance like Chatterjee standing up in support of a coming together of the two parties, the alliance became a reality. Like never before, they celebrated the alliance with a joint appearance of two top leaders – Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and CPM senior leader and former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee – at an election rally in Kolkata.<br /><br />The CPM has taken enormous risk to tie-up with the Congress since, given the depth of the bitterness in their past ideological and political rivalries, there is a chance that this hurt the party more in Bengal and other the other two Left-dominated states. <br /><br />A failure to dislodge Mamata in this election can be more demoralising for a party whose leadership in Bengal has already been in a state of despondency. On the other, the Congress will only end up lending credence to Mamata Banerjee’s past accusations – that the Congress in Bengal is the “B-team of the CPM.” Probably, a failed alliance may also help BJP’s rise in the traditional Left states.</div>
<div>As we await the results on Thursday, the CPM and the Congress should be relieved that their unprecedented alliance in the West Bengal assembly elections went without being a subject of critical scrutiny. <br /><br />The two parties have been sworn rivals, historically. They have a long history of many bitter battles in Bengal. Even outside Bengal and the two other traditional Left-dominated states of Kerala and Tripura, there is hardly any instance of a direct electoral tie-up between them. So, the coming together of the two parties in Bengal is a rare political occurrence that merited far more attention than it got. <br /><br />The two parties did come together at the national level on a couple of occasions in post-poll cooperation to prop up government at the Centre - first in 1996 and then in 2004. On the first occasion, however, the CPM turned down a historic opportunity to lead a coalition government in Delhi, as it was hesitant to do so taking the Congress’ outside support. <br /><br />This missed opportunity had later prompted veteran party leader late Jyoti Basu to lament that it was a “historic blunder” to have foregone the opportunity to lead a government at the Centre. The CPM, along with the Congress, chose to prop up from outside two United Front governments, first one headed by H D Deve Gowda and the second one by I K Gujral.<br /><br />On the second occasion, in 2004, the Left party went on to extend its outside support to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government. It accepted the Lok Sabha Speaker’s post as well. As we know, the CPM withdrew its support four years later on the issue of Indo-US civil nuclear cooperation.<br /><br />On both the occasions, the CPM leadership deliberated its proposed move to cooperate with the Congress threadbare. It realised that a strong and credible justification was necessary to convince the party cadre and camp followers, particularly in stronghold states of Bengal, Kerala and Tripura where the Congress has been its principal rival. Hence, the leadership justified the party’s cooperation, citing the compulsions of combating mounting threats from the “communal BJP.”<br /><br />Vote share<br />As Bengal approached assembly polls, the BJP was hardly going to be a serious contender. Tho-ugh the BJP is in power at the Centre and had finished third in terms of vote share – in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections in the state – behind Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress and the CPM-led Left Front, its subsequent performance in byelections and local elections was poor. <br /><br />Therefore, the saffron threat factor that drove the Left party to collaborate with the Congress at the national level was a non-issue in Bengal. And, ideologically, the distance between the CPM and the Congress remains, though politically they have struck limited partnership to counter a rising BJP. But all that is outside Bengal.<br /><br />In Bengal, a campaign was afoot within the CPM as well as the Congress for a tie-up between the two parties for the assembly elections. The campaign did not remain within for long. By early February, it was in the open – top state level leaders of the two parties went public asking their central leaders for an electoral alliance. <br /><br />There was no ideological rationale for the tie-up; nor was there an overriding political compulsion. For both, it is a matter of political survival. The ruling Trinamool Congress under Mamata Banerjee has systematically marginalised the Congress after fighting the last assembly elections in 2011 together in an alliance.<br /><br />The CPM has lost much more. The party-led Left Front gave up its social base to the Trinamool in district after district in the last five years. The CPM workers, and even local leaders have shifted loyalty to the ruling Trinamool. Mamata has adopted many populist slogans of the Left. The situation has been rather despondent to Trinamool’s rivals, who accuse its regime of “destroying” Bengal.<br /><br />“Now West Bengal is being destroyed, it is necessary to prevent the state’s complete destruction. It should be stopped at any cost...” asserted former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee, a strong votary of the alliance between the Congress and the Left. He insisted that an alliance between the two parties was not just a “political option, but a necessity.” <br /><br />With the high priests of the alliance like Chatterjee standing up in support of a coming together of the two parties, the alliance became a reality. Like never before, they celebrated the alliance with a joint appearance of two top leaders – Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and CPM senior leader and former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee – at an election rally in Kolkata.<br /><br />The CPM has taken enormous risk to tie-up with the Congress since, given the depth of the bitterness in their past ideological and political rivalries, there is a chance that this hurt the party more in Bengal and other the other two Left-dominated states. <br /><br />A failure to dislodge Mamata in this election can be more demoralising for a party whose leadership in Bengal has already been in a state of despondency. On the other, the Congress will only end up lending credence to Mamata Banerjee’s past accusations – that the Congress in Bengal is the “B-team of the CPM.” Probably, a failed alliance may also help BJP’s rise in the traditional Left states.</div>
