Jaydip Chakrabarti
Agartala, May 27, 2019: Jai Ma Tara – Former Transport Minister and firebrand CPIM leader of Bengal Late Subhash Chakraborty uttered standing before goddess Kali at Tarapith. The invocation immediately triggered huge controversies and as expected Marxist leaders flayed Chakraborty. In the face of severe criticism, he remained defiant. He tried to convince arrogantly orthodox Marxist leaders to look up at political horizon and notice upcoming drastic but silent change in perception and narratives.
Justifying his Jai Ma Tara invocation, Chakraborty unequivocally said, CPIM could not expand beyond three states – because the Party miserably failed to accommodate Indian values and traditions.
No one among the State or national level leaders could sense the significance of Chakraborty’s argument – and the result of Marxist leaders’ outdated and poor vision is now obvious. Red colour is rapidly waning in political rainbow of the country – once mighty Leftists are nothing but a fast melting force in its strongholds, Tripura and West Bengal.
If poll results are any indication of alienation of the Party, leaders should read the writings on the wall – it is ‘Indianization’.
Assembly wise LS Poll results show that CPIM was pushed into the fourth position in 7 Assembly seats – in 60 seat segments, CPIM candidates managed to get some ‘lead’ in only two Assembly seats. On an average, CPIM relegated to poor third position in LS Polls in Tripura with less than 20 per cent votes – of course the same happened in West Bengal too.
In the wake of large scale and steady slide in vote share, CPM leaders, shrugging off ritualistic ‘introspection’, should realize and confess that people are more comfortable with Pranam compared to ‘red salute’. Recognizing and practicing Indian values and traditions are more important than blindly following ‘Das Kapital’ for creating any possibility of revival – this is perhaps the silent message that voters conveyed.
Staying away from puja and festivals implies staying alienated from a larger section of the people who form the support base – it is important that Left leaders understand the issue of ‘psychological distance’ and take note of Subhas Chakraborty’s call for involvement in mass religious festivals sincerely, said a veteran journalist of Agartala.
