People's Democracy

(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)

Vol. XXX

No. 13

March 26, 2006

ELECTION CAMPAIGN OF THE BENGAL CPI(M) CREATES

A Widening Statewide Political Initiative

B Prasant

 

THE ongoing election campaign of the CPI(M) and the Bengal Left Front, believes state secretary of the Bengal CPI(M), Anil Biswas, has succeeded in creating a wide and politically driven mass initiative throughout the state. 

 

Anil Biswas, who placed the secretarial report before the ninth session of the state committee, held on March 18, 2006 firmly underpinned his postulate by pointing to the major participation in the election campaign of the CPI(M) and the Left Front of every section of the populace bar the tiny segment who aid and abet the forces of reaction and who revel in the onerous task of exploitation. 

 

In the state committee meeting, it was resolved that the mass initiative was to be further consolidated and the election campaign as the mass contact of the CPI(M) and of the Bengal Left Front taken further ahead. 

 

The state committee meeting was held at the Muzaffar Ahmad Bhavan in Kolkata.  Biman Basu, Polit Bureau member of the CPI(M) presided.  Jyoti Basu and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Polit Bureau members both, attended the meeting.

 

The meeting that listened to district-level reports was of the view that the response that was evinced from among the people to the election campaign of the CPI(M) and the Left Front was unexpected and certainly unprecedented. 

 

ELECTION CAMPAIGN: A SUCCESS

 

The first phase of the election campaign offered very little scope for the ongoing school leaving examinations across Bengal precluded the use of loudspeakers, and hence larger allies and meetings were out of the question. Even outdoor meetings were not held in case the emanating sound was of inconvenience to students hard at work studying for the examinations.

 

Thus, the CPI(M) concentrated on mohalla (neighbourhood) meetings, small gatherings, informal and otherwise, street-corner meetings, and on house-to-house campaign –– from the urban bustees to the single-storey pucca buildings, to the multi-storeyed housings.  In the villages, every household has been approached with the political contents of the election call of the Left Front.

 

This was a tough campaign to contend with, commented Anil Biswas and went on to note the quiet self-confidence that marked the workers of the CPI(M) and the Left Front as they went about accomplishing the task.

 

Anil Biswas placing his report to the state committee said that the massive stream of people joining in the election campaign of the CPI(M) and the Left Front had continuously swelled the booth-level participation of the mass of the people.  The opposition has been rendered quite ineffectual in consideration of this development. 

 

FAVOURABLE POLITICAL CONDITIONS

 

The visible lack of an election campaign in any form on the part of the Bengal opposition, of the right and of the extreme Left, is very conspicuous to everyone concerned.  ‘But we are never content with the level of our achievement,’ said Anil Biswas and he stressed that the ‘mass initiative must be further widened and the CPI(M) would take the people along all the way during the election campaign.’

 

The state unit of the Bengal CPI(M) has little doubt that imperatives of various forms and sorts notwithstanding, the political conditions are favourable for massive win by the Bengal Left Front in the assembly elections. 

 

The emerging picture of popular support is clearly perceivable during the conduct of the intense election campaign statewide.  There is a real possibility that the Bengal Left Front shall romp home with a greater number of seats than it did the last time around in the assembly polls.  The CPI(M) aims at mobilising more support in every booth and in every seat this time around.

 

Some amount of hurdles has been set up on the path of the people’s initiative to put into practice and in a spontaneous manner their hard-earned democratic right.  The mass of the people of Bengal, conscious and dignified, must be aroused and enthused politically to move forth relentlessly in the situation that has been created.  The people shall always abide by the rules, regulations, and codes of the Election Commission of India.

 

DISRUPTIVE ROLE OF THE OPPOSITION

 

The Bengal unit of the CPI(M) has served a word of warning to the workers, supporters, and sympathisers of the CPI(M) and the Left Front to say that as the assembly election would draw close, the present sets of attacks from the ruling classes, the parties of the vested interest, and the opposition outfits would increase and would become more and more frequent.

 

These forces have in their pay and employ, the so-called Maoists in the ‘red clay’ districts of the state.  The Maoists criminals are indulging the heinous act of assassinating the workers of the CPI(M).  The killers are in receipt of political and material assistance from such outfits as the Pradesh Congress, the Trinamul Congress, the Jharkhand party, and the BJP. 

 

At the same time, the Bengal CPI(M) notes, concerted and continuous attempts are going on at the level of the districts by the Pradesh Congress, the Trinamul Congress, and the BJP to harass and exasperate the people.  In the circumstances, the CPI(M) and the left Front must take along every section of the people in the task of strengthening further the election organisation units.

 

Taking every step with caution and circumspection, the CPI(M) and Left Front workers must ensure that genuine voters were never deprived of the right to exercise franchise.  The revision of the voters’ list, which is going on the present point in time, must be looked t closely and the attention of the members of the electorate must be urgently drawn to the photo identification cards.

 

Later, answering questions from the Kolkata media at the Muzaffar Ahmad Bhavan, Anil Biswas made the following points: