Bengal doesn't want any more 'Red Lights'

By: Subhadeep Bhattacharjee

Former President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev had once said political parties should not be in power for too long as it has adverse effect on the system. It won't need a man the knowledge of rocket science to understand that the Left Fort is crumbling in West Bengal. The Left Front which seemed inevitable just about a year back seems to be falling like a pack of cards. The Big Daddy of Left Front, the CMI(M) seems to have completely lost the confidence of the people it has ruled over for 30 years.

The Winds of Change which started blowing with the Left's defeat in the Lok Sabha polls earlier this year seems to have turned into a storm. After loosing subsequent Lok Sabha, Panchayat and Municipal polls all across the state the Left Front has seen its worst in the recently concluded by-election for the assembly. Off the 10 seats that went for polls the LF managed to win just one seat that too coming from a smaller constituent of the LF, the Forward Block. CPI(M) the largest constituent of the LF tasted dust in all the five assembly constituencies that it had contested.

Although Trinamool Congress is making huge grounds in the state a its entire success cannot be attributed to its leaders. It is rather the anti-Left sentiment among the people of the state that is slowly cutting the arteries of support that the Left has enjoyed for more than three decades since taking on power in 1977. People who had started believing Left was inevitable in West Bengal are suddenly seeing a ray of hope to overthrow the party which has prevented the state's development for decades.

The Left rule in the last three decades has pushed the state backward when compared to the growth rate of other states in the country. Once the most industrialised province in the country turned backward as the government has failed to create enough jobs in the urban and semi-urban areas of the state. Calcutta which was once a British pride and one of the premier cites of the world was turned into a metro which is behind many state capitals in the country.

The people of the state have had enough of this and three decades has been too much of a time for a single party in power to think of doing any development in the state. If the writing on the wall proves to be correct Left is on its way out from the Writer's Building in West Bengal. Will the transition from a Left Hand Drive to a Right Hand Drive be smooth and better, this only time will tell. But for now Left seems to closing on its expiry date.