The Tripura election results have come as a rude shock to the Left Front, particularly to the CPM. More than two-decade-old Left rule came to an end after a catastrophic battle between two opposing ideologies – communism and religious nationalism. 3rd March was the day when the rusted hammer and sickle was consigned to the dustbin of history. After its biggest humiliation at the hands of two year old BJP in Tripura, question arises- Is CPM heading towards a complete whitewash in India? Not only the party has become anaemic under lacklustre leadership of Prakash Karat & Co, but also losing its important in the national front. To be absolutely frank with the state of affairs, CPM has become a minority player where they have their sting in Kerala and demotivated supporters in West Bengal and Tripura.
More of CPM’s defeat than BJP’s win’
The defeat of the CPM in Tripura is possibly an event of greater historical significance than the BJP’s sweep of the state because it marks the most important point in the demise of the Left as a parliamentary political force. With the disastrous results in Tripura on Friday, that’s precisely what the party has been reduced to. A national party (undivided), which was the principal Opposition in the first ever Lok Sabha, has now been pushed to a tiny land that accounts for hardly three percent of the country’s population. Unlike in West Bengal, where the defeat in 2009 and later in 2011 came after years of agitation on the twin issues of Nandigram and Singur, there was no forewarning in Tripura. Consequently, the suddenness of the debacle in Tripura is more astounding.
What went wrong then? The Left in Tripura has failed to feel the pulse of the people, a symptom of a greater malaise that has afflicted the India’s communist parties for the past many decades.
Several Indian newspapers have reported that Tripura is one of the Indian states suffering most with burgeoning unemployment rate. Tripura has an unemployment magnitude of 19.7% according to relevant sources. BJP leaders blamed the leftist political parties frequently for their failure to reduce unemployment in Tripura.
Sarkar’s popularity or honesty, however, could not hide occasional cases of corruption, faulty implementation of grassroots programmes, the weakening of the Left’s organisational structure, and some of the Left leaders choosing not to be so die-hard honest as their chief minister.
The people of Tripura have had enough of glorification of poverty, which is the wont of communists. While keeping them mesmerised by his austere manners, Chief Minister Manik Sarkar deprived the State of a semblance of development. Different parts of the province stay poorly connected via land routes by means of pothole-ridden or dug-out roads. There has been no such thing as industry in Tripura. Sarkar exploited the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act by rewarding those with the contracts who stayed loyal to him and denying those who refused to bow to him.
It was appalling that old men and women in their 80s and 90s had to carry rubber tree twigs on their backs and walk miles of hilly roads to the market to earn no more than Re 1 out of Rs 108 for which a kilogram of wood sells. They had resigned to their fate with the belief that this was how life was supposed to be until the BJP arrived.
Corruption: Though former CM was projected as honest leader but many scams under his regime.Notable are Teachers recruitment scam( 10,323 teachers recruitment was declared as unconstitutional), ROSE VALLEY CHIT FUND SCAM,BISHALGARH BLOCK SCAM etc.A few of his cabinet ministers were being interrogated by CBI.
Recruitment Scam: About 10,000 teachers were recruited without TET exam. While opposition alleged that they were selected on the basis of party loyalty , CPIM claimed that they were giving jobs to the poor and unprivileged ( not necessarily to the most eligible). Their recruitment was held illegal by Supreme court and they were going to be kicked out of their jobs. BJP (which is made up of the leaders who were against their recruitment) showed sympathies to those illegally recruited teachers while CPIM turned their back on them ultimately. This led to their changing of party loyalties.
Mithilesh Kumar Sinha
