At the same time, the Left's ability to hold its own has been demonstrated, first, by the 33 seats it has won in the Kolkata municipal corporation against the Trinamool's 97. And, secondly, by running the Trinamool reasonably close in the civic bodies outside Kolkata. It is clear that even if the communists have lost ground in the cities, they have retained a portion of their base in the mofussil towns.

There is little doubt that Mamata Banerjee could have denied the Left the satisfaction of retaining some of their influence outside Kolkata if she had agreed to fight the elections jointly with the Congress. In that event, there would have been a distinct possibility of the Congress-Trinamool Congress combine virtually wiping out the Left in Kolkata and inflicting a severe setback on it in the mofussil areas.

Such an outcome would have been a hugely demoralizing blow to the communists in this so-called semi-final before next year's assembly elections. In fact, Mamata Banerjee's case for bringing the assembly polls forward would have been strengthened by the Left's comprehensive defeat. It would not have been easy for the communists to resist such a demand since they have suffered a series of setbacks starting from the panchayat polls of 2008.

But, now, the comrades have survived to fight another day. They are aware that the slide in their fortunes, which started two years ago and continued through last year's parliamentary elections and subsequent assembly by-elections, denotes a definite trend and not a process which can be easily reversed. What all these results show is that the popular disenchantment with their 33-year-old regime is running deep. The comment, which Prakash Karat reportedly made to the celebrated Marxist historian, Eric Hobsbawm, that the communists had been beleaguered and besieged in West Bengal, was a true reading of the situation.

It is also possible that if the Trinamool Congress realizes its mistake of going it alone, it will mend its fences with the Congress and put up a joint fight against the Left in the assembly polls. But there's many a slip between the cup and the lip. The communists will now probably wait and see how the relations turn out to be between the mercurial railway minister and the Manmohan Singh government. If there are continuing signs of strain, as at present, the Left will have an advantageous propaganda point by pointing out how difficult it is for anyone to keep Mamata Banerjee happy.

Although the government at the centre has given her considerable leeway by allowing her to skip cabinet meetings and stay away from office for weeks, the minister's attitude continues to be grumpy. Her ambivalence towards the Maoists is another negative factor where she is concerned. The Left may well argue, therefore, that West Bengal's difficulties, which include a demand for separating the Darjeeling hills, will multiply under such a whimsical leader.

There is little doubt, though, that the voters are well aware of the Trinamool leader's minus points. If they are still reposing their faith in her in fairly large numbers, the explanation lies in the contradictory nature of some of the Left Front government's recent policies. The Singur and Nandigram episodes were the tipping points in this regard. While the committed supporters of the Left could not understand the sudden wooing of the much-derided private sector, the others, who might have been voting for it, were possibly bewildered by the virtually forcible acquisition of fertile farm land in the name of development.

What was more, the show of force was not by the government machinery alone, but by the Marxist militia who famously “invaded” Nandigram on their motorcycles while the police looked on as silent spectators. It was that incident which opened the eyes of the Left's supporters outside West Bengal to the high-handed ways of the Marxists, with which the people of the state have long been familiar. It was this imposition of capitalism via Stalinism which must have eroded the Left's credibility to a large extent.

There were other reasons, too, such as the Rizwanur episode which showed how the police could intervene in a private matter at the behest of a business man. And the eviction of Taslima Nasreen from Kolkata, which showed that the Left's professions of secularism were not all that deep. Clearly, the three decades in power have undermined much of the Left's lofty pretensions. Hence, its electoral reverses even if there may be doubts about the worth of the present winners. (IPA Service)