When Samyukta Kisan Morcha, leading the protest at the Delhi borders against the Center’s agricultural laws, announced that he would campaign against the BJP in West Bengal, the left-wing parties became enthusiastic about the SKM. After all, Hannan Mollah, General Secretary of All India Kisan Sabha and a key member of the SKM, is also a member of the CPM Politburo.
But now that the protest leaders have landed in Kolkata, including Balbir Singh Rajewal, Rakesh Tikait, Yogendra Yadav and Medha Patkar, the CPM has begun to distance itself from the SKM program.
BKU spokesperson Rakesh Tikait, social activist Medha Patkar and Samyukt leader Kisan Morcha during Mahapanchayat in front of Gandhi statue in Kolkata on March 12, 2021 (Express photo by Partha Paul)
Singur and Nandigram have been elected to the SKM mahapanchayats against the BJP, but the choice of these two places has made the left look red: the movements of the TMC leader, Mamata Banerjee, led to the end of 34 years of government of the Left Front in West Bengal a decade ago.
The SKM went to Nandigram on Saturday and will be in Singur on Sunday.
What’s more, SKM leaders don’t go beyond their slogan ‘Don’t vote for the BJP’ and the left isn’t exactly happy. He suspects that the SKM is here to campaign not only against the BJP, but also in support of the TMC.
Hannan Mollah told The Sunday Express: “SKM came here to campaign against the BJP. Here, 23 organizations support us. Many of them were present at the Ramlila Maidan yesterday (for a public meeting). And today’s and tomorrow’s programs have been organized by the West Bengal ‘Gurudwara Committee’. We do not know how and on what basis they have organized these programs ”.
The Krishak Sabha, the farmers wing of CPM, made it clear that they would not be there for SKM programs. Its state leader, Amal Halder, said: “Now we are very busy with our election campaign. Our party has already announced the names of the candidates and they have started their campaigns. So it is very difficult to be present in the SKM program. We hear that they are campaigning against the BJP. We have no problem with that. “
SKM leaders are not going beyond their slogan of ‘Do not vote for the BJP’ and the left is not exactly happy. (Express photo by Partha Paul)
A senior CPM leader stated that some of the SKM leaders and their associates have been in constant contact with the TMC. They chose Nandigram and Singur for the Mahapanchayat. It is impossible for us to support this. That is why we have told our cadre to stay away from the program, ”said the leader.
On Saturday, the SKM urged people not to vote for the BJP in the Assembly election. But he did not say who the vote should be directed to.
Twitter posts from protesting farmers unions targeted only the BJP using the hashtag #NoVoteToBJP. One tweet read: “Don’t vote for BJP – The slogan that the people of Bengal are using to raise awareness among the people. BJP has almost ruined farmers’ lives by passing 3 agricultural bills and will leave no stone unturned to take control of Bengal … “
The fact that Medha Patkar went to the SSKM Hospital in Calcutta to visit the injured Mamata Banerjee – she was admitted there after a fall in Nandigram and the TMC claimed it was an attack – has increased Izquierda’s suspicions.
On Saturday, Rakesh Tikait said West Bengal people can vote for anyone, but not for the BJP.
Yogendra Yadav said: “We do not support any party or organization. But we are trying to teach the BJP a lesson. ” He said that if the BJP is defeated in Bengal and the other states where elections are held, it will be forced to repeal the agricultural laws.
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