CONVENTIONS, mass rallies and jathas marked the 25th anniversary of the Left Front and the Left Front government in Bengal. A huge rally was organised in the Kolkata metropolis at the Netaji Indoor Stadium on June 23.

As raindrops drummed overhead, the packed audience was regaled at the beginning of the programme by the sarod maestro, Subinoy Sil whose symbolic rendition of the raga Mishra Kafi for the occasion, went from a slow, slightly hesitant commencement to gallop into a drut teentaal, and ended with a flourish that drew a roar of approval from the appreciative audience who could easily discern in the pattern, a clear reflection of the onward march of the Left Front on and from 1977 to the present moment in time.

Jyoti Basu set the ambience and mood of the rally when he declared that "all of you have certainly earned the right to indulge in celebrations at the electoral success of the Left Front". Then he went on to posit in characteristic laconic style that it was important, "once the statewide festivities were over, to buckle up and get down to meeting the tough challenge the victory has served to pose before all of us: do not forget that the electoral sweep has enhanced manifold the level of expectation of the people from the Left Front in general, and the Left Front government in particular."

Jyoti Basu described the antipathy of the forces of right reaction vis-à-vis the Left Front, nationally and internationally and decried the role played by a section of media "who would gladly consider desecration of facts less important than subserving the political interest of the ruling classes."

The need of the hour, Jyoti Basu delineated, was a rigorous continuance of the process of further strengthening the Left Front and to extend the whole process deep into the grass-roots level of the state. "Do not forget", exhorted the veteran Communist leader who had led the state governance in Bengal from the front for well over two decades, "that we, none of us, have any interest other than the people’s interest, and we have to dedicate ourselves to this cause till we breath our last."

State secretary of CPI (M), Anil Biswas was characteristically succinct, and he dwelt on the fact of the electoral successes of the Left Front as the direct political consequence of a "long and arduous pro-people struggle that the Left could build up here over an extended period of time, a process that commenced in a somewhat amorphous form back in the 1950’s and then gradually crystallized into a creed through a process of further intensification of struggles and yet more struggles."

Anil Biswas added to say that the central focus of the Left Front continued to remain upholding the norms of democratic functioning at every level of society since "we are sharply aware of the fall outs of any deviations from that path, witnessing as we had to, in the 1970’s in particular, the mass incarcerations, the nightmarish murdering spree and the generalized assault on the mass of the people as the ruling classes indulged in a riot of semi-fascist actions, and left Bengal bloodied but defiant."

The lessons learnt in that ordeal by fire, said Biswas, "would continue to inspire us to work for the people and to keep ourselves deeply involved in their daily struggle for existence, in good times and in bad, and the march along the untrodden path continues with vigour."

Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee wove his address around the basic theme of mass struggles having to be carried out in ever increasing waves in order to accelerate the pro-people progress of the Left Front and the Left Front governance. Bhattacharjee called upon the Left Front workers to spare no effort in further augmenting the agrarian base of state economy and to ensure that the people were kept in the know of the fact of the matter of developmental work. "We must explain to them what we could achieve and what we were not able to deliver, and why." The people, added Bhattacharjee, must realize the nature of the innate bindings that a state government faced in the circumstances of limitation in which it has to work."

Bhattacharjee concluded by declaring that in the days ahead, the Left Front, the opposition parties might well realize, "would be very busy indeed in battling poverty, unemployment and illiteracy, and that it would be spared little time to indulge in responding all the while to the calumnies that were being assiduously flung at it by them." Bhattacharjee added to say that in accelerating the pace of development of Bengal, "we seek the cooperation and help of not only those people who have supported us but also of those sections who have chosen, perhaps in a fit of pique, to turn their face away from us, at least this time around."

The meeting was presided over by CPI (M) Polit Bureau member and Left Front leader, Biman Basu who called for an exercise of post-euphoria deep introspection and straightforward self-criticism in identifying those who would not vote for the Left Front, and more importantly, why they would not do so. Biman Basu also spoke about spreading the notion of work-culture outside the confines of offices and institutions towards the larger realms where the Left Front worker carried out his tasks to bring about improvement in the life of the poor, the downtrodden and the social outcaste.

Other Left Front leaders who addressed the gathering were: Ashok Ghosh (FB), Debabrata Bandyopadhyay (RSP), Manjukumar Majumdar (CPI), Moni Pal (SP), Pratim Chatterjee (FB-M), Mihir Byne (RCPI), Sunil Chaudhuri (Biplabi Bangla Congress), and Prabodh Sinha (DSP).