The falling of the Left Front government in West Bengal in the year 2012 has certainly dealt a deathblow to the left party in India. This brought about visuals of the previous fall of the Soviet Union and the creation of Eastern Europe. In fact, it so appears that the communist Indian political factions have been unable to adjust to the realities that have surfaced in India in the recent past. They have been holding on to their past glory and have been a prisoner in their own system of ideals. They failed to understand the escapism that was taking place around them from China to Nepal.
The Left Communist Party of India was still stuck in time as it tried to impose its redundant ideologies and mechanisms in the democratic framework of the country. They tried and failed with other left parties often not agreeing to a single course of action. The previous success of the Indian Left parties and their victories in Kerala, Tripura and West Bengal no longer exist.
The Left has also failed to leverage the discontent emerging out of Mamata Banerjee’s misgoverned regime, which has seen a relative increase in corruption, financial scandals, crime and other vices in West Bengal. The state has been on an economic decline.
However, coming to the Left Party, it is not easy to outline the reasons behind the quick downfall of the Left. There are many reasons such as the rigid party hierarchy, the Polit Bureau system, patronage system amongst others- which primarily were the cocktail for disaster. The land grabbing scandals further reduced the support base of the Left party as it started to lose at the municipal and village panchanyat elections.
From the way things are progressing, it seems that the Left should be prepared to suffer more losses during this election. A lot of the loss would be attributed to the fact that the Left has given up its noble original aims and ideals. Their previous commitment of the general welfare of people such as the poor and support of local government does not exist anymore. It is seeking to form a Third Front, which seems like a distant dream as the various parties are in conflict with one another over the Telangana issue.
The Left needs to rethink its ideologies and present them in a manner that is acceptable to the people. They need to learn more from the modern European socialist parties and change their party altogether, which might give them a new lease of life- otherwise the Left Party in India is definitely headed towards extinction!
