The spectacular demise of the left rule in West Bengal (India)

Like many others concerned about West Bengal (WB), one could not, in the context of the resounding loss of the left front (LF) in the May 2011 assembly elections, avoid pondering about the key factors that undermined the long standing left rule in WB.

Trinamul Congress (TMC)/Congress leaders, sympathisers as well as a host of commentators in the media have had a clear prognosis about the endgame since 2009 parliamentary elections. Nobody other than die-hard LF supporters was left in doubt about the rot and debility in the government administration and the despondency enveloping the party organization at various levels.

What were the roots of this malady and the trajectory of its growth ? Was it a post 2006 election development or rather a work-in-progress over the three decades of the LF rule ? Many commentators (e.g., Sumanta Banerjee, EPW June 4 2011) have pointed in that direction. But then how did they manage to stay in power this long despite growing anti-incumbancy ? Beyond TMC’s hell raising claims about electoral malpractice by CPM/LF, vote splitting due to non-alignment of non-left forces there must be some substantial reason for the remarkable electoral success of the left all these years and the spectacular failure this time. 

Urban votes were probably always more evenly partitioned between LF and non-LF categories. When and how did the rural vote banks of LF collapse ? If the rural masses (and even a decent section of urban voters) were ‘solidly’ behind LF even at the time of 2006 elections (their vote share was a little over 50%), what happened during the next 2-3 years to cause a tectonic shift in this support base (2008 Panchayat elections were the early evidence of this shift). Is it possible that the misadventure, mismanagement and miscommunication at Nandigram and Singur were like straws on the camel’s back pulling down this illusory and waning support base like a pack of cards ?

Have been thinking about the roots of the malady and the spectacular demise. Watch this space for more on this subject ...