Communists face fierce challenge

The communist regime in the eastern state of West Bengal is faced with the fiercest challenge to its uninterrupted rule in the last 24 years from the right-wing political combine of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Indian National Congress (INC) party when the state goes to polls on May 10.

The leader who was largely responsible for this record run for the Left Front in Bengal is one of India's oldest surviving communists – Jyoti Basu, who retired as the longest-serving chief minister last November.

The 86-year-old leader who heads the Left campaign, has launched a vitriolic attack on the right-wing opposition. "This right-wing combination is born out of opportunism, out of greed for power. If you vote for them, you are inviting anarchy," is a recurring charge in his campaign rallies across the state.

The opposition's hope hinges on Mamata Banerjee, the supremo of the Trinamool Congress – the dominant partner in the right-wing combination. Her asset is her dogged tenacity and her single point mission to dethrone what she calls the "despotic communist government in Bengal".

"Throw them out. Free yourself out of this communist strangle hold of Bengal," she tells thousands of enthusiastic people who seem to spontaneously respond to her call.

Her battle cry has not been hollow. In the past two years, Banerjee's popularity ratings have soared. Her party captured the Kolkata Municipal Corporation from the communists last year. She was also responsible for wresting nine Parliament seats in the state in 1999.

In this eastern state, the rule by the communists has been perpetuated for so long mainly because of its successful implementation of land reforms programme. Under this, surplus land owned by big landowners were vested in the government and later distributed among the landless.

Therefore, though the seat of power is in Writers Buildings – the state government secretariat in Kolkata, the communists actually rule from the villages. But the regime faltered on investments in industry which would have generated employment for the urban educated, health care facilities and in providing other civic amenities.

The young generation and the urbanites have thrown their support solidly behind Banerjee. Even the Left's rural supremacy is under stress. With prices of agricultural inputs rising steadily and agricultural activity becoming more capital intensive, those who had received land are now under economic strain. Many of them are depending on middlemen.