TMC-BJP Clash in West Bengal: What Is the State of the Left After 34 Years of Rule?
April 14, Kolkata. In the West Bengal Assembly elections, the presence of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) is visible in every street and corner. Flags, banners, and posters of both parties are seen waving everywhere.
However, on Sunday evening at Culture More in the Dum Dum North Assembly constituency in Kolkata, the scene was entirely different.
Wherever one looked, people were seen holding the red flags of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)]. The CPI(M) candidate, Dipsita Dhar, was conducting a roadshow here. Dipsita is also a former president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Student Union.
Aparna Ghosh, a government employee, was watching this roadshow from her home’s doorway. When asked, “The communist party is considered quite weak in West Bengal, yet this roadshow has gathered a large crowd,”
she responded, “This young woman is well-educated and sensible. In my opinion, the left is the only alternative to TMC in Bengal.”
Ghosh noted that the TMC gives women monthly financial aid of 1,500 rupees while the BJP has promised 3,000 rupees. She asked, “Does this empower women in Bengal? Rather, this scheme makes women dependent. Women need education and employment, not just charity. Parties have turned people into voters, not citizens, relying solely on handouts.”
What is the voters’ perception of the Left?
Near Aparna’s home, a tea stall is run by Anna Mandal, who said, “Many people come to the rallies of the Left, but they disappear during voting time. So, I am not very optimistic about the crowds at Left rallies.” However, he mentioned a three-way contest in Dum Dum North between TMC, BJP, and the Left.
In the 2016 Assembly elections, the CPI(M) won from this constituency but lost to TMC in 2021. In that election, CPI(M) failed to secure any seats, with its vote share falling below 5%.
For the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the alliance has not allocated any seats to CPI(M). Since 2011, CPI(M) has been continuously weakening in West Bengal.
In this context, how do the Left expect to win in this election?
Answering this question, CPI(M) candidate Dipsita Dhar stated, “We are not pursuing popular politics. Our politics focuses on raising awareness and empowering people.” She asserted that now people are realizing the condition in which TMC has left Bengal. “Everyone is also observing the state of BJP-ruled states. This time, the Left will show good results in West Bengal,” she said.
Dipsita added, “Only the Left can defeat TMC in West Bengal.”
According to her, with BJP strong, TMC is also strong. “To defeat TMC, BJP must be weakened. Currently, the perception is that CPI(M) and Congress cannot defeat TMC,” she added.
Senior CPI(M) leader Biman Bose, aged 87, remains actively involved in daily campaigning. He stated, “I walk at least 12 to 15 kilometers every day campaigning. This time, I can say our party will not be reduced to zero.”
Have Left leaders joined BJP?
Since TMC came to power in 2011, many have claimed that numerous Left leaders have shifted to BJP. Senior journalist Sayantan Ghosh highlighted such shifts in his book ‘Battleground Bengal.’
Ghosh wrote:
My first meeting with Hiren Chatterjee (also called ‘Huru Da’) took place in a smoke-filled tea stall in South Kolkata when I was just a school student. Huru Da wore an open shirt and old pants, but his voice carried the strength of a seasoned trade union leader of CPI(M). Amid cups of sweet tea and bidi smoke, he narrated tales of communism, labor struggles, and the harsh history of trade unions. His stories captivated everyone from auto drivers to passerby, painting a world where the red flag promised justice. As a child, I listened wide-eyed, unaware I would become a political journalist following his tales.
By 2011, when Mamata Banerjee’s TMC ended 34 years of Left rule, rumors arose about a suspicious case involving Huru Da. He never spoke openly, shrugging off questions.
In 2017, during Durga Puja in Kolkata, the auto drivers’ union—once a CPI(M) stronghold—had become a TMC bastion. Huru Da was nowhere to be found. I thought perhaps he had vanished at the city’s edge, a sign of Bengal’s shifting politics. One evening, I saw him again at a familiar tea stall, older but still animated while narrating stories—this time about the campaign to unseat Mamata Banerjee. Surprised, he smiled and said, ‘BJP is the only force that can defeat Mamata.’
Challenges for the Left
The senior journalist further wrote in his book ‘Battleground Bengal’:
I couldn’t believe it—Huru Da, once a staunch communist, now rallying for BJP? When I expressed my surprise, he laughed and said, ‘We have moved from Left to Right.’
His words reflected not just personal transformation but a larger political shift in Bengal where BJP’s saffron color was replacing the Left’s red flag.
However, Brinda Karat, a veteran Left leader, disagrees with claims that Left cadres have shifted to BJP. She said, “Left voters may have moved to BJP due to fear of TMC, but I don’t believe cadres have defected.”
Senior journalist Suman Bhattacharya accuses Karat of misrepresenting facts. “Where did BJP’s West Bengal Assembly deputy leader Shankar Ghosh come from? Clearly from CPI(M). He still sports a Che Guevara tattoo. Bankim Ghosh, once a cabinet minister under the CPI(M) government, is now with Suvendu Adhikari. Isn’t the son of Anil Basu, a seven-time CPI(M) MP from Arambagh, also in BJP? The son of Amitabh Nandi, former CPI(M) MP from Dum Dum is in BJP as well. And the son of Tapan Sen, CPI(M) national trade union secretary, is with BJP?”
“In my understanding, BJP has taken over CPI(M)’s vote base and leaders in West Bengal,” Bhattacharya explained.
Bhattacharya said many expected post-2011 that Bengal’s politics would be limited to TMC and Left. However, starting in 2014, when Narendra Modi became Prime Minister, a new wave of change began. “BJP gradually rose in Bengal, while the Left faced a continuous decline.”
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Left Front did not win a single seat in Bengal, securing only about 7% vote share.
The 2021 Assembly election was even more dismal. For the first time in history, both the Left Front and Congress, which once dominated Bengal politics for decades, finished with zero seats. TMC won 213 seats, while BJP rose to 77 seats.
Silence at the Left Party Headquarters
At the CPI(M) headquarters on Alimuddin Street in Kolkata, an unusual quietness prevails even during election season. Only a few elderly people are seen sitting, rolling bidis or working on computers.
Eighty-seven-year-old Biman Bose resides at this office. Joining the party at age 30 by leaving home, he remains continuously active. He attributes the party’s condition to “the failure to manage the rise of TMC and identity politics effectively.”
–Translated and adapted from BBC Hindi