People's Democracy

'Ensure Left Sweep In Bengal'

Give the BJP half a chance and it would create a communal mayhem , and it is more than willing to organise the polls in the country in the fashion religious fundamentalism was allowed to hold sway before, during, and after the elections to the state assembly of Gujarat. The need of the hour is to make sure that the BJP is thrown out of office and in fulfilling this emergent task, the people of Bengal have a crucial role to play.

This was the sum total of the oust BJP call given by Bengal chief minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee while addressing a series of meetings of CPI (M) and Left Front workers on March 21 in the district of Darjeeling. Despite the rainy weather, the meeting saw a massive attendance. Veteran leader of the CPI (M), Ananda Pathak presided over the meetings.

Explaining the hurry of the BJP to go in for an early election, Buddhadeb pointed out that the win that the BJP somehow managed in three Assembly elections, thanks to the aggressive communalism that was resorted to and due to the listless performance put up by the Congress, "have encouraged them into thinking that it would be to their interest to utilise the ‘wave’ that they somehow notice."

The BJP, said the CPI (M) leader, "has been engaged in spending crores of rupees in advertisements that speak of ‘feeling good’ and of ‘India shining’ while the truth remained that the Indian masses groaned under poverty and the country continued to get embroiled ever deeper in economic dysfunction."

The indigenous industries are killed off by disinvestments. As the budgetary allocation for agriculture is lowered and lowered, the kisan is deprived on remunerative prices of crops they produce. Many thousands have committed suicide being unable to put up with the pain of bearing witness to starving family members. The working class is under severe attack. Unemployment rises in urban and rural areas. "Is this how the BJP would like ‘India shining’ to ‘feel good?’ asked Buddhadeb in a rhetorical vein.

The principle agenda of the BJP and its cohorts is s establishing a rabidly communal Hindu state. In order to fight the communal menace, said the Bengal chief minister, it was imperative to strengthen the Left, democratic, and secular forces. In this task, the Left in general, and the CPI (M), in particular, have a crucial role to play. To ensure that the Left won all the Lok Sabha seats in Bengal would prove a vital blow to the religious fundamentalists’ ambition to come back to office, concluded Buddhadeb.