AN ALLIANCE OF OPPORTUNISM

                                                                            

The CPIM has formed an alliance with the congress in  West Bengal, once a sworn enemy when it had been in power, though they have chosen to be to be characteristically covert. Ever since it was routed in the polls in the state of west Bengal, it has been looking for an opportunity to come back to power to use it with clout. It has participated in a number of elections at different levels and has been trounced by the Trinamool because the people of west Bengal have not been able to forget the reign of terror unleashed by it in the state in addition to creating a malaise in every sphere of life.

The very alliance with the Congress underscores the moral bankruptcy of the CPIM because in the past it did not miss out on an opportunity to lash out at it and did not run out of its enthusiasm to organize the other parties as a united opposition to the Congress. The party gave support to the congress to form the government under Manmohan Shing but it was from outside without participating in the policies of the government. The most interesting and hypocritical aspect of the alliance at that time was that it made it clear that the alliance would not percolate down to one with the congress in the state of West Bengal where it had been in power.  The party has now tied the knot with the congress because it is not in power in West Bengal.

The electoral alliance of the CPIM with the congress has evoked mixed reactions from different circles and this is not without a plausible reason. The common reactions of vituperation from the rank and file of the congress in the state of West Bengal can be traced to their stance of belligerence that has been fostered over a period of time due to the persistent efforts of the CPIM to coerce the congress activists into accepting their domination. The CPIM has never failed to play the sordid political game of opportunism, even though the so called intellectual leaders of the party talk about righteousness every now and then.

Come the elections and the party goes from door to door trying to form pacts with the parties it finds suitable with a view to consolidating its position, never bothering to be bogged down in the mire of ethics. When the CPIM had been in power, it made a scathing attack on the congress as it viewed its emergence as a threat to its existence. Over the years when the substantial portion of the congress broke away from it and joined the Trinamool formed by the firebrand, Miss Mamta Banerjee, the CPIM began to see red ironically because she confronted the ruling party in the very belligerent manner in which the CPIM once endeared itself to the masses in Bengal. Never tiring of being in a combative mood she took the wind out of the sails of the CPIM by highlighting the various chinks that had begun to appear in the administration and the party because of the entry into and the growing influence of corrupt people. The leaders at different levels had become autocratic and took greater interest in squabbles than organize the party by maintaining contacts with the people. When this continued over a period of time in the absence of a coherent policy of the party to rein in the offenders ruling the roost in the party, the trust of the people was shaken, weakening the party to an extent where it had been swept away like an aspen leaf in the last general elections in the state.

Though there has an alliance with the congress in West Bengal, the activists of the latter will find it difficult to digest it and come out with spontaneous support for the show. On the other hand, if one is to go by the trends, a large number of activists of the party will switch over to the Trinamool as they have been raised on the diet of fierce opposition to the CPIM. Not many of them will accept the alliance that has been forced on them by some of their marginalized leaders too tactical about their electoral equations. Posters condemning the alliance of opportunism with the CPIM have appeared in different parts of the state. This only testifies to the anger and frustration of the congress activists on a larger scale as they have before them the belligerence of the Trinamool that dares to take on the CPIM and the Congress combine single handed.