India’s main communist party celebrated the 30th anniversary of its rule in the West Bengal state Thursday. Next only to the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan which ruled the island nation for 38 years, CPI(M)-led Left Front on Thursday, earned the rare distinction. The Left Front Govt’s 30 years in power is a record, not just on the slippery ground of Indian politics but also in electoral politics anywhere in the world. The one man who held sway for 23 of those 30 years is former Chief Minister Jyoti Basu who said West Bengal should emerge as a frontrunner in industry in the next few years in tandem with its position in agriculture to solve its unemployment. Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee spoke of the need for consensus on the question of industrialization.
Anniversaries are a great time to look back,as the CPI-M looks back on its past glory, Offstumped looks back on taking on the Communists over the years.
Jun 1, 2007 Regulating Organized Retail – CPI-M Doublethink
May 19, 2007 Some uncomfortable questions to Leftist Activists
Mar 21, 2007 Week after Nandigram comes the “I told you so…”
Mar 15, 2007 Communists Kill Police – Communist Policing kills people !
Dec 26, 2006 Mamata’s Fast in Singur heads for the end game – What are the likely scenarios ?
Dec 5, 2006 – Mamata in Singur – Will this drive a wedge between UPA and CPI-M
Sep 02, 2006 – Communist Party of India Marxist CPI-M – Subverting Political, Economic Reform Agenda and Foreign Policy
Aug 31, 2006 – CPM seeks EC Reform – Communist attempt to undermine Constitution
Aug 17, 2006 – Communist Indoctrination in NCERT Textbooks
Jul 25, 2006 – Communist intereference in Sabarimala
Jun 4, 2006 – Indian Communists losing sleep over Office of Profit
Jan 15 2006 – End of the road for CPI
And then of course the most recent one on The Patil who gave Communists sleepless nights.
Today there is no effective Opposition in West Bengal and we recently debated that for any new political formation to emerge ground up and be successful in today’s political context would require 3 conditions to be met
- it must represent a significant voting bloc that currently is either not participating or not being represented by a viable political voice
- it must focus on a State where there is a political vacuum
- it must champion a cause with a strong populist streak to it, to put it crudely the equivalent of a Mandal or Ram Janmabhoomi.
If there is any state that offers a tangible, realistic opportunity for a new right of center political formation it is Bengal.
Is the Indian Right upto the challenge to displace the Communists from West Bengal to end their 30 year honeymoon ?
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Too good.. I have read some of the links.. and I am still reading
The one on regulation of retail sector is too good… It takes a lot of effort to get out of the leftist wordtraps and caveats
>>It takes a lot of effort to get out of the leftist wordtraps and caveats
Correction.
It takes a lot of effort to get out of the leftist wordtraps and caveats like you have done in that post..
Hi Yossarin
Keep up the great work.Each of these posts are terrific
Electorally irrelevant they may be but through sheer lung -power and vagaries of Indian parliamentary systems ,these commies get undeserved attention and political clout too.
And the media infested by their cohorts and cronies does everything to project them as saviours of the country
Blogs are the only hope to expose their hypocrisy and render them irelevant
Unfortunately, West Bengal is still solidly in their hands. Mamata Banerjee has not only lost her urban base, but she is pursuing people who always viewed her as representing elitists, with only slight success. A grand alliance (TC, Cong, BJP) could minimize the Commie presence in the next Parliament. But the dear Congress must protect their insurance policy (A strong commie bloc to back them). It is quite a shame.
What I find most tragic is the Third Front deciding to ra-ra their ‘secular’ credentials rather than be pragmatic. It will allow a dummy President in office, something that will NOT be to their advantage…in addition, avoiding alliances with the BJP in 2009 will mean a lower presence for both sides…in Haryana, Assam, TN, and AP. I have no idea what their game plan is after that. A Parliament full of bloodsucking regional and left parties. I was so thrilled that President Kalam’s farewell hinted that a two-party democracy is far superior to the mess of now. The results of UP just proved that the current situation may look like a dream come true in 2009.
shadows – thanks keep on with it
Prasanna – yep the TV channels are the worst when it comes to undeserved attention
Janpar – the congress in WB is a disgrace to the word “opposition”
great…communism is curse to nation