Rebels upset party strategies

By Malabika Bhattacharya

KOLKATA, APRIL 23. With West Bengal headed for elections on May 10, the State's ruling communists, their principal challenger, Ms. Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress and other parties are trying to work out effective strategies to grapple with the issue of democracy or the lack of it in their organisations.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist), the leader of the State's ruling Left Front, is currently up against the pro- democracy rebels who have thrown their hats into the electoral ring to create roadblocks for the candidates of their mother party, alongside the Trinamool. While Ms. Banerjee is reeling under the impact of the recent outbursts from her high-profile MP, Mr. Ajit Panja , whose main theme of rebellion is ``the lack of democracy in Trinamool.''

The Bengal CPI(M) grabbed headlines sometime ago when a section of its key functionaries such as Mr. Saifuddin Chowdhury and Mr. Samir Putatunda and the Transport Minister, Mr. Subhash Chakraborty, raised hell within and outside the party, accusing the leadership of stifling inner-party democarcy. After showing a great deal of patience, the CPI(M) leadership got rid of the first two just before it began the preparations for elections. In the case of Mr. Chakraborty who is a heavyweight, it adopted the policy of ignoring his anti-party utterances for inner-party democracy with the hope that he would eventually fall in line. So he did. The leadership succeeded in reining him in and Mr. Chakraborty is now a key CPI(M) candidate in Belgachia(East) in North Kolkata. Mr. Chowdhury and the likes of him later formed a new outfit, the Party for Democratic Socialism(PDS) which is currently in the electoral fray. Upset over what it called Mr. Chakraborty's `betrayal', the PDS has fielded Mr. Sunandan Roy Chowdhury against him in Belgachia.

Mr. Putatunda of the PDS is also a candidate in the prestigious Jadavpur constituency in South Kolkata where the Chief Minister, Mr. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, is fighting a crucial battle against the Trinamool's actress nominee, Ms. Madhabi Mukherjee. Needless to say, central to Mr. Putatunda's electioneering is inner-party democracy. ``The CPI(M) has turned its back on inner-party democracy and the party is full of deadwood,'' has been his refrain in meeting after meeting. His mother party is not exactly perturbed as it thinks that his presence would actually help pave the way for its candidate's victory as he would cut into Ms. Mukherjee's votes.

The CPI(M) which was the butt of ridicule from the Opposition over the debate on democracy, is now gleefully watching Ms. Banerjee's plight over Mr. Panja.

An influential MP from Kolkata, the Trinamool stronghold, Mr. Panja raised Ms. Banerjee's hackles when he went public with his ideas about her style of functioning as well as her decision to tie up with Ms. Sonia Gandhi's Congress. ``She does not consult anyone and runs the party the way she likes,'' he thundered at a newsconference recently.

Taking a leaf out of the communists as it were, Ms. Banerjee is trying to ignore Mr. Panja's revolt. In ordinary times, she would have disciplined him but not now. Mr. Panja's anti-Banerjee views may fall into receptive ears in the Trinamool and ensure defeat of a few party candidates.

Ironically, the fledgling PDS, too, is facing unrest in the ranks over lack of democracy, an issue which its leaders used a few months ago to incite passion and break away from the mother party, the CPI(M). It was one of the senior members, Ms. Tapati Mondal, who left the PDS last week after accusing the leadership of being ``far more autocratic than the CPI(M).''

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