Back on the backfoot

After a long and unbroken spell of what critics call 'totalitarian' power, the CPM is on a real sticky wicket

Rajat Roy Kolkata

After almost three decades of one-dimensional power and absolute arrogance, holed up in its own bastion, the CPM is in a quandary. While pressure is mounting on the CPM-led Left-Front government in West Bengal to restore peace and order immediately in Nandigram, the initiative has been snatched by minor partners like the Forward Bloc (FB) and Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) of the ruling front. After the first round of 'all party peace talks' on May 24, it seems the CPM has been sidelined in this crucial political process.

Last month, bowing to pressure from within and from civil society, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya and the CPM's state secretary Biman Bose repeatedly appealed to the warring factions in Nandigram to participate in the talks; but they failed to get any positive response from the opposition parties. Then the front partners came forward. Since the March 14 massacre in Nandigram with the  police and CPM cadre working in tandem, sympathetic noises made by the RSP and FB leaders earned them the trust of the opposition parties. Hence, when RSP's Kshiti Goswami, who is a minister, proposed that octogenarian FB leader Ashok Ghosh be entrusted with the task of holding the peace talks, Mamata Banerjee and other opposition leaders promptly gave their consent, thus signalling their deep distrust as far as the ruling CPM leaders are concerned.

The CPM leaders were stung by the move. While they could not publicly oppose the peace initiative, they vented their anger on Bhattacharya for allowing the minor parties to take control of the situation. In a recently held state secretariat meeting, a number of party leaders criticised the chief minister for undermining the organisation. Led by Biman Bose, Suryakanta Mishra, Deepak Dasgupta, Amitava Bose and others, the CPM members voiced their displeasure; they reportedly said that the peace talks were arranged without involving the district party organisations.

Though the party could do nothing to stop the peace initiatives taken by the minor partners of the Left Front, they took measures to subvert the process. While all the mainstream political parties were invited to the meeting (even the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council and Laloo Prasad's Rashtriya Janata Dal were invited), they had little to do with the present political crisis. Ironically, not a single representative of Bhumi Uchchhed Pratirodh Committee (BUPC) of Nandigram was invited. The people, who had been in the forefront of the resistance movement in Nandigram, were given a go by. A front leader explained, "It suited both the opposition and the ruling Left, because, what the people of Nandigram have done can become a dangerous omen for the mainstream political parties." Obviously, mainline parties did not like the fact that under the umbrella of the BUPC people from across the political spectrum were mobilised; consequently, the Trinamul Congress (TMC), Congress, Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI), Jamait-Ulema-e Hind, Naxalite groups, especially the Santosh Rana group's CPI(ML), and even local CPM supporters joined the massively popular resistance movement.

Now, the political parties, especially the TMC, want to exploit the movement for the next round of elections. They want to be the sole arbitrators of the fate of Nandigram. And that suits the CPM as it can then try to drive a wedge in the 'fighting unity' of the people of Nandigram. The FB leader Ashok Ghosh made no bones about this uncanny twist when he said that the list of invitees for the peace meeting was prepared in consultation with Biman Bose.