Launching a scathing attack against the CPI(M), Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday said that the people of the country had totally rejected the Left which was now confined to only one state. “The Left has become irrelevant in India’s polity because the majority of the people of the country have rejected them. The reason for the
Left’s plight is its wrong policy decisions on all important national issues,” he said. Mr Mukherjee was addressing a Congress rally in Kolkata.
In an unusually belligerent mood, Mr Mukherjee said that the Communist Party was born way back in 1920 but even in these 91 long years, it could not gain acceptability in the country barring a few pockets. “The Left had a presence only in three states: Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura. It tried to survive by sometime holding the hands of Sonia Gandhi and sometime those of the BJP. But now the party remains only in Tripura. The wrong policy decisions on all important national issues is the main reason for the Left’s total isolation,” he added.
Mr Mukherjee said that the people of West Bengal had entrusted enormous responsibility on the Trinamul Congress-Congress coalition government. “The people want to see the state on the path of development and economic empowerment. They have given us the responsibility of improving agriculture, industry, healthcare and education and make West Bengal a front-ranking state. The Congress may be a small partner but is a partner nonetheless. A partner shares the credit for success just as it receives blame for a failure,” he added.
The Congress mounted a massive show of strength in Kolkata after a very long time. This was the first party rally after the Assembly elections where in a rare show of unity, virtually all important Congress leaders sinking their differences came to one platform. Manas Bhunia, Pradip Bhattacharya, Adhir Chowhdury and Deepa Das Munshi among others were present. Power is a great cementing factor.
The turnout was as impressive as is usually seen at Trinamul Congress’ Martyrs Day rally, which is held every year on July 21. The objective of Congress’ massive show of strength was to make its presence felt in the state’s polity and to pre-empt any possible exodus of party workers to Ms Banerjee’s camp.