Jyoti Basu

Calcutta, Nov. 1: Jyoti Basu has urged “Congress supporters” to vote for the Left in the Assembly bypolls for the sake of “peace and development” in Bengal, making a specific appeal to loyalists of an erstwhile ally his party’s central leadership has dumped.

Basu cited the “danger” posed by the alleged nexus between the Trinamul Congress and the Maoists to justify his call, apparently a brainchild of the Bengal CPM.

But his first direct appeal to Congress supporters since the Left’s successive debacles at the hustings was redolent with the desperation of a party keen to cash a political IOU.

Basu reminded Congress supporters of how the CPM had closed ranks with their party to fight communalism, gently suggesting that the favour be returned when byelections to 10 Assembly seats are held in the state on November 7. Seven of the 10 seats were held by the Opposition.

“Those who support the Congress, I want to tell them that we had supported the Congress unconditionally against communalism in the interest of the country. I am specially requesting them when the state is facing the danger (of the violence of the alleged Trinamul-Maoist combine) to support the Left for the sake of peace, order and development in the state,” Basu said in his appeal.

The obvious motive of driving a wedge between the Opposition vote banks is apparent in Basu’s appeal that stresses the alleged nexus between Trinamul and the Maoists. But it also carries a latent message to those, including CPM general secretary Prakash Karat, who facilitated the reunion of the Opposition by pulling the plug on the first UPA at the Centre.

Basu did not make any bones about how his party’s fortunes had dwindled. “Our result was bad in the last Lok Sabha polls. Some of our supporters, friends and sympathisers voted against the Left Front. It was not their fault they didn’t vote for us. We failed to convince them. Apart from that, we had made some mistakes,’’ Basu said.

Basu took care not to be too harsh on the Congress at the national level, limiting his criticism of the Centre to “skyrocketing (akashchhoa) prices” and “increasing unemployment”.

But he picked out Trinamul and concentrated his firepower on its “nexus” with the Maoists. “Our state is facing a horrible (bhayankar) situation now. The main Opposition party is resorting to murder and terror. Our comrades are killed every day. Common people as well as doctors, nurses and policemen are also killed. Trinamul and the Maoists are working together. They are taking the law into their own hands. We had brought back peace and democracy in 1977. Today, I appeal to you to vote for the Left in the interests of peace, democracy and development,’’ Basu said in the statement.

Although Basu did not seek the support of the Congress directly, his appeal to the party’s “supporters” has again underscored the Bengal CPM’s misgivings about Karat’s anti-Congress thrust.

Basu and most of the Bengal CPM leadership, including chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, had always considered the Congress a lesser enemy in comparison to the BJP at the national level and Trinamul in the state.

The tension between the two camps became palpable after the Lok Sabha polls. The Bhattacharjee camp pinned the principal blame on “central factors” — a euphemism for withdrawal of Left support to the first UPA and the subsequent third front experiment.

However, industry minister and politburo member Nirupam Sen supported Karat’s contention that “state factors”, including the government’s failure to deliver rural welfare, were to be blamed more.

The state CPM got an opportunity to warm up to the Congress when the Opposition allies brawled after the Siliguri corporation election. The CPM promptly supported the Congress’s mayoral candidate, a tactical move reluctantly accepted by Karat as a local, one-off decision with no larger national ramification.

But fears that the Left erosion has not yet stemmed and the non-partisan attitude of the Prime Minister in dealing with the Maoist threat seem to have prompted the state CPM to again tap the Congress base.