Contrary winds

Sir — The blow delivered to the Communist Party of India (Marxist) by the results of this year’s panchayat elections must be extremely difficult to bear for a party that has been ruling the state unchallenged for more than three decades now (“Panchayat poll jolt to Buddha”, May 22). What must be even more shocking to the CPI(M) is that the common people, whom party leaders took for granted all these years, have shown the courage to defy their diktats. The election results stand proof of the pent-up bitterness and hatred in the minds of Bengal’s rural voters against the CPI(M). The party’s negative politics of bandhs, its opposition to all development projects undertaken by the Centre and cadre-violence are responsible for the dismal showing in the panchayat polls.

However, the people of West Bengal cannot afford to celebrate the setback of the CPI(M) in the panchayat elections. By dint of being in power for so long, the CPI(M) leadership has become arrogant, intrusive and disrespectful of the people. After such significant losses, its ways are likely to become even more tyrannical. What is all the more worrying is that the people cannot count on the opposition parties to come to their rescue. The shortcomings of the spineless Opposition are all too evident. The best we can do is to keep our fingers crossed.

Yours faithfully,
Srikanta Bhattacharjee, Calcutta

Sir — The Left Front, particularly the CPI(M), should take a lesson from the panchayat poll debacle. Party leaders should take some time off to try to understand the factors responsible for the poor showing of the party. It does not take superhuman intelligence to see that the party MLAs and senior leaders have distanced themselves from the people by openly indulging in corrupt and criminal activities. The word, ‘communist’, does not apply to them. Most have ill-gotten money and resort to unethical means to further their interests.

The people have taken strong exception to the chief minister’s comments on the bloodbath in Nandigram. They have also disliked Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee’s unnecessary interference in the elections to the Cricket Association of Bengal and the way he handled Rizwanur Rahman’s death. We can only hope that the poll results work as a blessing in disguise for the party.

Yours faithfully,
Tapash Chatterjee, Calcutta

Sir — The losses suffered by the CPI(M) in the panchayat polls do not in any way herald the doom of the ruling coalition, though the dark forebodings should not be ignored (“Reading signs”, May 23). Mamata Banerjee is, as expected, exaggerating her party’s gains. Her prediction that this is the beginning of the end of the CPI(M) in West Bengal is in keeping with her frequent, unrealistic outbursts. There is no doubt that this time too, Banerjee’s stay in the limelight will be short-lived.

The editorial, “Reading signs”, and the report, “Policy at risk, not politics; Govt faces twin thorns” (May 23), were laudable in their analysis of the losses and gains of the Left and the Opposition. That the CPI(M) suffered the biggest setback in the seventh panchayat elections must be a matter of concern for both the leadership and the party cadre. But there is no reason why defeatism should grip them.

It is evident that the Nandigram debacle was mostly because of the fierce pre-poll clashes between the CPI(M) and the Trinamul Congress. The sustained media campaign also helped in a large measure to drive a wedge between the people and the CPI(M). This is not to suggest that the CPI(M) was the picture of fairness in Nandigram. But it would be foolish of the government to stop its industrialization drive as a reaction to the poll results. As the editorial has said, the challenge before Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s government is to carry the process forward with a pragmatic mix of caution and farsightedness.

We must remember that the disorganized TMC can be no substitute for the Left. Today’s losses may turn out to be tomorrow’s gains for the ruling party if it takes the right lessons.

Yours faithfully,
P.B. Saha, Texas, US

Sir — The people of the hills have endured the CPI(M)’s misrule for years. It is heartening to know that the rest of Bengal is also waking up to the reality of the CPI(M)’s despotism.

Yours faithfully,
Amar Singh Rai, Darjeeling

Sir — It was not the state government’s industrialization policy that went against the CPI(M) in the panchayat polls. It was the violence sparked off by unfair land acquisitions. This was evident from the entirely different poll outcomes in east and west Midnapore. The results have proved yet again that people can be forced to follow orders but their minds cannot be won by violence.

Yours faithfully,
Govind Das Dujari, Calcutta