The CPI(M) believes that the growing public resentment against the Mamata Banerjee government will help the party in regaining its lost political ground in the state in the coming panchayat polls. On the second and final day of the two-day party state committee, the party leaders went for an extended meeting.
In the extended meeting of the state committee, the CPI(M) satraps discussed the strategy to reap substantial electoral dividends by cashing in on this public disenchantment. In a press statement issued on Tuesday, the party said: “The party workers must mobilise the rural people to put an effective fight against the conspiracy to destroy the three-tier panchayati raj system. Only by establishing the people’s democratic rights, we can change the balance of power.”
The party leaders from the districts presented detailed accounts of how the panchayat system in their respective areas was sought to be undermined in the past 18 months. “Elected representatives were made irrelevant and development work was disrupted . In many places, the administration was shamelessly misused to marginalise the zila parishads, panchayat samitis and gram panchayats,” the statement claimed.
The reports from districts made it clear that public anger against the role and attitude of the ruling Trinamul Congress was escalating. “The people have now openly started voicing their resentment against the government. In such a situation, the contest in the rural polls will become highly crucial,” the statement said.
There are however two big challenges before the CPI(M). One, to find candidates for each and every seat and second, to inculcate total unity among Left Front partners. The party leadership is working hard to overcome these challenges. The extended state committee also decided to mobilise public support for the two-day Bharat Bandh which the Left Front has called on February 20 and 21.