Rejuvenation of CPI(M) in Bengal needed for resurgence of Left in country: Politburo member Salim

Madurai: Resurgence of the Left in the country will not be possible without the rejuvenation of the CPI(M) in West Bengal, party Politburo member Mohammed Salim said, underlining that protests against the RG Kar incident showed that the Left has not disappeared from the state.

In an interview with PTI on the sidelines of the 24th party congress where revival of the CPI(M) in its former bastion of West Bengal is in focus, Salim said the party is working on its revival in the state but acknowledged it is not an easy task.

Asked if they would ally with the Congress in the upcoming assembly polls, Salim, who is also the party's West Bengal Secretary, said strengthening the party is the first priority.

West Bengal is slated to go to polls in 2026.

On the path ahead for his party in West Bengal, Salim said, "Sitaram Yechury always used to say that the resurgence of the Left in this country will not be possible without the rejuvenation of the CPI(M) in West Bengal." "Naturally, we are working with that theme. We discussed it in our state conference, and here among many other things, our first task in the organisation is to strengthen the CPI(M) countrywide and then to build a Left unity. Based on that, all those who are opposed to BJP and Hindutva kind of politics, the neo-fascist tendency, all those people have to come together to fight," he said.

"It is our prime task to rebuild, restructure, rejuvenate as well as reposition CPI(M) in West Bengal, and we are on that job," he told PTI.

However, in the state where the party got only 6.33 percent votes in the last Lok Sabha poll, and around 4.73 percent votes in the 2021 assembly polls, which was significantly down from over 19 percent votes they got in previous assembly polls, the task is not easy.

Salim admitted it is a difficult task, and said, "Every task is difficult and that's why we joined the Communist Party. It's a no cake walk".

He, however, charged that the state has not seen any fair elections in recent times.

"As we've seen, in the recently concluded elections in Maharashtra, Haryana, Delhi, the popular mood is something and the electoral result is something else. With a 'blind' ECI and manipulations, corporate funds and electoral bonds, blind police forces, it's very difficult," he alleged.

"And for the last several years in Bengal, there has been no genuine election, be it in Panchayat or Lok Sabha or even municipality...But despite that, we are surging ahead step by step, slow but steady. And with the 2026 election around the corner, we have to strategise. We have taken a position where we are preparing for the election as well," he said.

The CPI(M) leader and former Parliamentarian asserted that the protests against the RG Kar incident showed the Left has not disappeared in the state.

Salim called the protests against the rape and murder of a 31-year-old female postgraduate trainee doctor in the RG Kar Medical College campus last year a "new kind of movement".

"It was a new kind of movement in post-independent India, because it was not under any political banner. Of course, the Left was at the helm of the affairs, but all Left came together," he said.

"And it was almost a kind of downloading of the Left ecosystem in Bengal. Because with the advent of the TMC in power and BJP in place, they have destroyed the Left ecosystem in Bengal. Unless that is revived, we can't grow," he said.

Asked if it will have any impact on the elections next year, he said, "Of course. Together with this, there are many events that will take place, there are many issues that will come, and the people's response also is increasing. Earlier, the people were made passive watchers, onlookers, now they are active participants in the agitation and movement." Asked whether the Congress and Left would have an alliance in the assembly polls, he said the first aim is to strengthen the independent strength of the party.

"Our first aim is to organise our party, at the same time build up a movement and consolidation of the Left. Based on that, all those who are opposed to BJP and TMC will come together and forge unity," he said.

On the issue of duplication of EPIC cards raised by the TMC, Salim alleged the Mamata Banerjee led party is a beneficiary of electoral malpractices.

"After the Maharashtra election, particularly Haryana and Delhi elections, these malpractices in the elections have come forward.... TMC, with a very systematic campaign, has reduced the entire thing to a voter list. The voter list is one important part," he said.

"Mamata Banerjee did it in 2004 also, that there are Bangladeshi names in the voter list. Now this time they are saying there are Hindi-speaking names in the voter list," he said.

"But this is just to hoodwink the public. Because the whole country was united after the Maharashtra-Delhi election," he said.

With BJP taking over as the main opposition party in the state, Salim said the rise of 'ultra-right" is related with the reduction of the electoral base or support of the Left.

"Mamata and RSS came together, BJP and TMC came together, to disseminate the Left along with the help of not only the reactionary forces within the country, but from abroad also," he alleged.