Nirupam Sen and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee at the condolence meeting. (Pabitra Das)

Aug. 27: Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today discovered that he has to contend with not one Mamata Banerjee but several — many of them carrying his own party’s card.

The chief minister’s denouncement of bandhs ran into howls of indignation from the Left today, the loudest blast let loose by CPM state secretary Biman Bose.

Bose put up a spirited defence of the “right to strike”, watched by the chief minister who had bared yesterday his differences with the party on bandhs and promised industrialists not to keep mum the next time a shutdown was called.

People did not go on strike “for fun or on a whim” but only as a “last resort”, Bose told a condolence meeting for Harkishen Singh Surjeet. “Workers must have the right to strike to save their jobs and livelihood. They had the right here and will continue to enjoy it in the future. The government should have a clear mind on it.”

Bose did not use the word “bandh” but stuck to “workers’ right to strike”, which the chief minister had not opposed. Neither did Bose, who shares a good rapport with the chief minister and is not known for mincing words, name Bhattacharjee who was present at the meeting. But the timing of Bose’s remarks and the grim visage of Bhattacharjee made it clear who the target was.

Bose also dipped into CPM founder member Surjeet’s legacy to push his argument. “Surjeet never felt that the working class would not exercise the right to strike even if employers continued to ignore workers’ just demands.” Bose made only a passing reference to the “misuse of the weapon”.

Bhattacharjee was seen fidgeting as Bose fired volley after volley. But he chose not to react when his turn came, though he did touch on a “new world reality”.

“We have changed the party programme of 1964 and accepted the political plurality, as well as added our new understanding about monopoly capital. Surjeet was head of the party commission that articulated those changes,” Bhattacharjee said.

Yesterday, the chief minister had told an Assocham meeting: “Personally, if you ask me, I think it (strike) is not helping us, our country. But unfortunately, as I belong to one party and (when) they call a strike, I keep mum. But I have finally decided that next time I will open my mouth,” Bhattacharjee had said.

Although Bose did not take names at the public programme, he had said at the state party office earlier in the day: “Whatever he (the chief minister) had said, it was not the party’s stand.”

A red-faced CPM central leadership, however, declined comment. Sources said the politburo would take a “serious” view of Bhattacharjee’s comments at its next meeting.

But two politburo members could not contain their displeasure. Kerala chief minister V.S. Achuthanandan and Citu general secretary Mohamed Amin immediately distanced the party stand from Bhattacharjee’s.

“I don’t think he had expressed such an opinion. If he had said so, then it is wrong,” Achuthanandan said in Thiruvananthapuram.

Amin merely said: “What he said was his personal view. I don’t want to comment any further.”

Only recently, the Kerala unit had censured MP A.P. Abdullah Kutty for saying bandhs were “anti-development”.

The Left Front allies also went hammer and tongs, accusing Bhattacharjee of humouring industrialists at the expense of workers.

“It (the comment) is very unfortunate, more so as he is a leader of the communist movement. Strike is the last resort and it does not take place off and on,” CPI MP Gurudas Dasgupta said.

“Staging bandhs is a democratic right. How can it be curbed?” asked CPI national secretary D. Raja.

Forward Bloc general secretary Debabrata Biswas said it was up to the CPM to take a view on the matter.

“I am sure trade unions are not going to listen to what Buddhababu said. He chose the wrong venue, an industry body’s platform, to air the view. He could have said that at a party forum or a trade union forum.”

The only comrade who stood by Bhattacharjee through thick and thin was sports minister Subhas Chakraborty.

“Nobody can directly oppose the party line. I, too, firmly believe in workers’ right to strike. But the bandhs in Bengal have become a farce as the people enjoy it as holidays. There is a difference between a farcical bandh and a genuine strike.”