Comrade in need, comrade indeed
West Bengal's Communist parties will do anything to get back to power. Caught off guard five years ago when Mamata Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress snatched the state from their control after an uninterrupted reign of 34 years, Biman Bose, then general secretary of the state's Left parties had said after the defeat, "We didn't realise the extent to which we had lost touch with ground realities." This time around they are leaving no stone unturned in the hope of winning the upcoming assembly elections.
Last month they threw broad hints at the state unit of the Congress Party that they were ready for an alliance when the normally reserved CPI-M leader, former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, declared at a public rally that he is all for a tie-up with any non-TMC, non-BJP political party. Since then other Left leaders have come out openly in support of an alliance. Parliamentarian Mohammad Selim spelt it out when he said, "We don't see any harm in getting together with the Congress if it means it will bring an end to the current government in the state," he said.
What was unexpected however was the speed with which the state Congress reacted. Leader of the state Congress, Professor Om Prakash Mishra, immediately dashed off a letter to Congress President Sonia Gandhi urging her to consider it pointing out that together the Congress and the Left had the numbers to oust the Trinamool. She is mulling over the issue. Looks like Sonia doesn't just have power over the Congress, but even the Communists are now looking to her for final decisions. As the saying goes, desperate times call for desperate measures.
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The doom foretold
In all this, it is former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee who is having the last laugh. The veteran politician was unceremoniously expelled from the Communist Party of India (Marxists) in 2008, when he refused to step down from his position as Speaker of Parliament even though his party was removing support to the then Central government, the Congress-led UPA I.
Chatterjee — whose appointment as Parliament Speaker was overwhelmingly supported by Congress including both Sonia Gandhi and then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh even though he did not belong to the Congress party — had at that time pointed out that he had a responsibility to fulfill. But his CPI-M party General Secretary would have nothing of it and after a brief meeting with a select group of CPI-M's central committee members took the decision to oust Chatterjee. At that time Chatterjee had forecasted that the decision to separate from Congress would cost the CPI-M dearly. Sure enough, the split paved the way for a Trinamool Congress and Congress alliance in West Bengal, leading eventually to the Left debacle in the state. Today even Karat has not ruled out another tie-up with Congress. When this correspondent asked him for a response, Chatterjee flashed an I-told-you-so smile.
Evicted and embarrassed
One of the names that has come up as the chief ministerial candidate of the Congress party in the unlikely scenario that Congress would be given the right of way in case the state sees a Left-Congress victory in the upcoming assembly elections (in case there is an alliance to begin with) is that of West Bengal member of Parliament from Murshidabad Adhir Ranjan Choudhury. But that is not the reason why he is currently making news.
Earlier this week, he was chucked out of his government bungalow in Delhi. The BJP government claimed that even after repeated requests that he vacate the premises since he is no longer a minister, he refused to do so and therefore it has had to resort to this extreme step. During the eviction by personnel from the Central government his personal belongings were thrown out into the open and an angry Choudhury, who claimed he was not given a proper alternative residence as an MP, moved the Supreme Court. But the apex court chided Choudhury telling him that he should be ashamed of himself for continuing to occupy the bungalow even though his tenure was over. From being enraged Choudhury is now embarrassed.
Explosive stuff
Bratya Basu's new play Boma (Bomb) was performed at the Academy of Fine Arts in Calcutta last week. It takes a critical look at the not-so-perfect personalities of Bengal's freedom fighters who have gained demigod statuses because of the sacrificial roles they played during India's movement for Independence. But Basu focuses on the individuals' petty jealousies, hunger for power and even incontinence in the backdrop of the "Kingsford" episode or the assassination attempt on the life of the British Calcutta magistrate Kingsford.
Bratya Basu, who had always been considered a firebrand thespian, mercilessly satirical of the previous West Bengal government, was inducted into the Trinamool party by Mamata Banerjee before the state elections of 2011. He was given a ticket to contest, won and was made a minister. However, he has become known as a voice of dissent within the party if not directly but through his plays. Indeed the strong allegorical resemblance between the current political in-fighting that takes place within his own party and those of earlier times depicted in his play is unmissable.
Union is god
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Overheard in a Calcutta three-wheeler auto:
"Taholey ebar kaakey vote dicchen?" (So then who are you going to vote for in these elections?) a passenger, an elderly gentleman asks the auto driver.
"Dekhi, union kakey boley." (Let's see what the union says.)
