Updated: November 10, 2020 9:17:03 pm
CPI (ML) Secretary General Dipankar Bhattacharya said the left played an important role in shaping the election agenda
The CPI (ML) and the other left-wing parties – CPM and CPI – have performed very well in the Assembly elections. Did you expect this kind of result?
In fact, we expected a stronger performance from the Mahagathbandhan and the left, because it was a very rare type of election, almost a popular movement. It seemed like an emergence of youth. It was heartwarming to see people shape the agenda with jobs, education and the basics. That kind of atmosphere helps the left … During the entire confinement we were active, we supported the people. And the so-called twin-engine government (if the NDA was in power in the state and in the Center), people found that both engines had no driver (at that time) … Our comrades came up with rations, we did work relief in flood-affected areas. I think this role of the left during the confinement helped us.
But it’s not just that … If you look at the 25-point campaign statute of the Mahagathbandhan, it is essentially a compilation of the demands that have arisen in the course of the teachers movement, the skilled workers movement in recent years. We have been leading those movements… So the left played an important role in shaping the election agenda. Follow the results of the Bihar elections LIVE Updates
You faced a prime minister who has been in power for three terms. But the results do not indicate a massive or anti-incumbent anger that the Opposition kept talking about.
In India, the elections are much more unequal now, given the kind of control that the central government, the BJP, has … It is not like the United States, where the media, many institutions, took on the Trump administration. Here the type of control exercised by the central government enjoys over many institutions in the formation of popular opinion, public perception … through its propaganda machinery … which plays an important role. The other thing is the alliance of the Opposition. I think if we could have formed an alliance earlier and the allocation of seats was more rational, for example, at least 50 seats for the left and 50 seats for Congress would have been a more reasonable and fair distribution … If we could have decided one a bit earlier… it took a long time to decide on the seating assignments and everything.
(But) From now on, I’ll say so far, all good. We have made a lot of progress for the left movement and for the entire pro-democracy movement in the country. Given the kind of fight we have to fight against this corporate aggression on agriculture, privatization. I don’t think this is just an anti-Nitish vote. People are also disillusioned with the Modi government and many of its policies. When people spoke of employment in Bihar, they were particularly against privatization. These issues are very important and many of our students and young leaders who earned quite well have been involved in the anti-privatization movement. Bihar students fought a very important battle against the privatization of the railways.
Did the projection of Tejashwi Yadav help as Chief Minister or could it have led to a cross-polarization given fears about Yadav’s anarchy and rule during Lalu raj?
I don’t think that (affected). The main reason (why the Grand Alliance did not get as many seats as expected) could be the third phase of the elections, in Seemanchal, etc. The BJP unleashed a kind of very cruel communal campaign. So (there was) community polarization and maybe some split of votes due to AIMIM … Because, if you look at the first phase, it went extremely well for the Mahagathbandhan. For example, all of Bhojpur has joined the alliance and many seats in rural Magadh. But in the second phase, and especially in the third… the BJP and the NDA probably did a little better.
What lessons do the Bihar results offer for the left in the next round of Assembly elections, especially in West Bengal?
In West Bengal and Assam, the left’s number one priority must be to stop the BJP … I think the left has to act together in Bengal. So instead of competing with the BJP in opposing Trinamool… it should be the other way around. Of course we will oppose Trinamool whenever necessary, but let’s fight with it against the BJP. The BJP must be recognized as the main threat to democracy throughout the country and also within West Bengal.
Do you suggest some kind of understanding with Trinamool?
Well I’m not saying that. What I am saying is that, first of all, the left must be very clear that the push must be directly against the BJP. There can be no confusion. So far, many of the left-wing parties have treated Trinamool as target number one… Yes, they are in power but (we should) clearly see the writing on the wall. And the writing on the wall is that the BJP is a growing danger in West Bengal.
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