When the Left is not right

Now that TMC has routed the left bastion from the 9 out of 10 seats in the recent by-polls in west bengal, CPM has little to make amend of. Like a prominent left leader said yesterday that CPM should go for a snap poll and exit gracefully and respectfully before their tenure ends (sic) in 2011. The party which ruled the state for more than 33 yrs have finally succumbed to its ineffectiveness and is staring at a massive electoral defeat in 2011. It needs a divine stroke of luck to revert their lost grandeur back to them. Mamata yesterday dramatically mentioned thatit was not the TMC's win but it was the left's loss-a statement that is sure to rub salt to the party's innumerable wounds and crack their backbone. And now that Mamata is looking forward to the students election by opening TMC's first students wing, it is sure to eat into whatever little is left of the CPM's vote bank. The Left is no more a people's party. This sudden curse should be very unbearable for left stalwarts whose efforts flagged the party's position and respect to such ground-breaking proportions. At a time when the whole nation is rebuking the Left;s ineffective combat against the maoists, their poor policies to benefit the poor and its failed attempt to rapidly industrialize the state (at the cost of the peasants' properties, as most of the people would say), we should spare a little thought for Left leaders like Jyoti Basu, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and the Late Subhash Bhowmick. They contribution to the party machinery was not only unparalleled but also path breaking in their uniqueness. Its not that I am writing their obituary from right now. But as a person who is born and brought up in West Bengal, It is a little unpleasant for me to witness their pathetic decle. And the day when Buddha babu will sit in the opposition's chair in the cabinet, it will be a surprising sight even for Mamata. More than the fact that the Bengal population is awed by Mamata's endeavours, I personally feel that they are in tremendous need of a change. There was a mood of anti-incumbency in the air and mamata, at the very right time, ignited the fire of 'Yes, we can (too)' and the result is right before your eyes. Its good to be optimistic, but somewhere lurking in the hearts of all the CPM workers and members in the state is the realization that in the next elections, The Left will be trampled for sure. What they now need is to think how to point out the loopholes of the possibly ruling TMC in 2011 and come back to power again. But clearly, Now, the Left is NOT right for the people.