Police line up at the HPL gate on Monday to ensure willing workers can join work. Picture by Jahangir Badsa

Calcutta, Nov. 23: The Haldia Petrochemicals Limited strike raises the question whether the CPM, politically cornered and facing the prospect of losing power, will revert to its old ways of militant trade unionism.

It is unlikely that the CPM’s Haldia strongman, Lakshman Seth, would have decided on the strike on his own, without the approval of the mandarins at Alimuddin Street.

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee may have played his role as chief minister by providing security to those workers defying Citu’s strike call but, politically, a signal from him could have stopped Seth from going ahead with the strike, CPM insiders said.

“The chief minister could have ensured that the strike didn’t happen. But he can’t turn a blind eye to the legitimate demands of the contract workers. Moreover, we in the party need to mobilise more and more workers in Haldia by fighting for their cause, given the erosion in our political support in East Midnapore. The strike is a tool to strengthen solidarity in our Haldia unit. That’s why, we changed tack,” said a state secretariat member.

All these years, Seth played to the party script, which was averting a strike in Haldia at any cost. As a result, not only HPL, but also the other big industry there — Mitsubishi Chemicals — did not witness a single strike. That Seth has now broken this record could well be an indication of a change of tactics for the CPM, a senior RSP minister said.

“Although the demand for the contract labourers’ wage revision is a regular feature in Haldia, this is the first time the party’s Haldia strongman and former MP has used the occasion to enforce a strike. Actually, the CPM is losing ground in Haldia and the entire East Midnapore district as evident from last year’s panchayat polls and this year’s Lok Sabha and Assembly bypoll results. Many contract workers have begun switching to the Trinamul Congress. So, the strike was a change of tactics to try and retain the flock,” the minister added.

The question is that if Citu goes back to its days of militant trade unionism, will it be yesterday once more? Opinion is divided.

While many senior leaders say it is inevitable in order to retain the CPM’s support base, now being encroached upon by Trinamul, some others rule out the return to the “militant trade union days of the late ’60s”.

“HPL is a local issue. Our party is not in a position to go back to the trade union days of the late 1960s. We have to be more responsible as a party even if Mamata becomes the chief minister in 2011,” a CPM central committee member said.

According to a Left Front leader, the reversal of tactics starting with Haldia is somewhat symbolic in the sense that the port town has been the face of industrial rejuvenation in Bengal.

The leader recalled that after admitting the state government’s “mistakes’’ in Nandigram and shifting the proposed chemical hub project to Nayachar, the chief minister had asserted that he wanted Nandigram to be “another Haldia” but the “people misunderstood the government’’.

“That was enough to prove how important Haldia is to Buddhababu as a symbol of industrial regeneration,” he said.

Asked about Citu’s changing posture, Trinamul MP Subhendu Adhikari said: “After blaming us for not allowing industry, the CPM is trying to shut down HPL. That shows its frustration at losing one election after another. They will do more such things the more we get close to power’’.