New Delhi, Nov 5 (IANS) The latest signs of discord within the INDIA bloc in West Bengal have once again highlighted the enduring fragility of Opposition unity in a state where shifting political alignments have frequently been driven by electoral compulsions rather than ideological convergence.
The debate resurfaced after senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury reportedly refused to moderate his criticism of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, despite indications of improving ties among Opposition parties at the national level.
Chowdhury, recalling what he described as years of political poaching and intimidation by the Trinamool Congress (TMC), maintained that his political experience left little room for reconciliation.
The statement has once again exposed one of the deepest contradictions in West Bengal politics, a deeply fractured opposition where the three main constituents have been bitter rivals at one point or another. Yet, the state’s electoral history has witnessed ideological and political rivalry often yielding to political interests and electoral arithmetic.
Parties that once fought bitter battles have joined hands when they thought appropriate. Before 1977, the Congress was the principal political force in West Bengal, with the occasional opposition alliance gaining power in between periods of President’s Rule till it returned in 1972 for an uninterrupted five-year run.
The rise of the Left Front, led by the CPI(M), culminated in its historic victory in 1977, beginning a rule that would last for about 34 years. During this period, Congress became the principal opposition, and the relationship between the two camps was marked by intense confrontation.
Senior Congress leaders still complain of alleged atrocities, especially during the Emergency. But while rising through the ranks of the Congress, Mamata Banerjee increasingly became frustrated with what she perceived as the party’s inability to effectively challenge the Left Front.
In 1998, she broke away to form the Trinamool Congress. One of her principal allegations was that sections of the Congress leadership had developed a covert understanding with the CPI(M), allowing Left dominance to continue.
Mamata’s politics was built around uncompromising opposition to both the Left and, frequently, the Congress state leadership. The split redefined state politics, with the anti-Left vote, once largely going to the Congress, now had a new and more aggressive challenger.
Initially, it was the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that she embraced as a strategic partner. At a time when the BJP was a relatively minor force in Bengal, she described it as a natural ally in the struggle against communist rule.
However, as political circumstances changed, she distanced herself from the BJP and gradually moved closer to the Congress; the common enemy remained the Left Front.
By the late 2000s, the Congress and the TMC had entered into an electoral understanding that proved decisive, benefiting from public anger over Singur and Nandigram. Once in power, several Congress leaders and workers crossed over to the Trinamool, weakening the alma mater considerably.
It is this period that Chowdhury referred to, accusing Mamata of breaking the Congress’s organisational structure in the state.
Even the communists made similar allegations, and political compulsions produced what was once unthinkable: the Congress and the Left joined hands. The partnership was built on shared weakness and a common objective to resist both the Trinamool’s dominance and the BJP’s expansion.
As the BJP behemoth spread East amidst a groundswell even in states controlled by regional satraps, the political equation in West Bengal changed once again, leading to Mamata spreading her arms to embrace her rivals.
Some analysts attribute Chowdhury’s Wednesday remarks to personal grievance, being replaced as West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) President soon after his defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
Chowdhury’s leadership had been marked by a confrontational stance towards the Trinamool government, especially for Mamata, and his resignation was seen as a move to re-organise the Congress party.
Subhankar Sarkar, the new WBPCC chief, was reportedly more inclusive and pliant in terms of the Congress seeking partners in challenging the BJP. Others point to tension between political memory being compromised at the altar of political necessity amidst shifting interests being shaped by changing electoral realities.
The shifting sands of politics in West Bengal thus depict the fragility of a “united Opposition” in several chapters of the country’s political history.
–IANS
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