West Bengal Assembly election: Fearing split of anti-BJP votes, TMC eyes Left vote bank

TMC has had to change its stance from an anti-Left party to an anti-BJP party to battle a new threat — the right-wing force

In 2011, Mamata Banerjee overthrew a Left government in West Bengal, which had dominated the eastern state for over three decades. Now, Mamata Banerjee is seeking to retain power by pitching the TMC as the only party that can stop the BJP. This rhetoric is also aimed at tapping whatever is left of the Left's vote bank.

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"I request my Marxist friends not to vote for either the Congress or the CPI(M) as they have become cohorts of the communal BJP," Mamata Banerjee said at a rally in Paschim Medinipur, continuing to accuse the Left and BJP of colluding against her.

Banerjee is facing a difficult fight this time as she will take on her former follower and now BJP leader, Suvendu Adhikari at Nandigram in the Purba Medinipur district. She had earlier turned to the Left Front and Congress to defeat the saffron party, which has emerged as the main opposition in the state.

The Left has been losing ground throughout India since the state's 2011 Assembly polls with Kerala being the only state remaining where the party is still popular. In the 2016 Assembly election, the Left Front got 29% of the popular vote. In what indicates a shift of its votes to other parties, the Left received only 7% of votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

All you need to know about West Bengal Assembly Elections 2021

While many organisations and political outfits are campaigning to not vote for the BJP with the hashtag #NoVoteForBJP, it is not very clear as to who they propose as an alternative and this seems to have benefitted the TMC.

Prior to recent times, TMC's politics has revolved around an anti-CPI(M) narrative and that's what led to the party's victory in 2011 and 2016. However, with the meteoric rise of the BJP in the state and region, and with CPI(M) being out of the picture, TMC has had to change its stance to a more anti-BJP front to thwart the state moving to the Right, once a bastion of the Left.

TMC is ostensibly looking to poach the Left vote bank to avoid splitting anti-BJP votes between itself, Congress, CPI(M) and the ISF.

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In a bid to stage a comeback, CPI(M) is fielding several young guns in what is seen as a breath of fresh air for the party. Two years after being thumped in the Lok Sabha elections, the CPI(M) is fighting the upcoming Assembly election with a revamped look, giving young leaders a chance to prove their mettle.

(With inputs from PTI)