Their new left slogan is, ”Ghure Daran (roughly, regroup and resist)”. Instructions have reached down to the bloc committees from the CPI(M) headquarters on Alimuddin Street. The odd thing is, despite much talk of “greater cohesion among front partners,” there is no evidence that the CPI, RSP or Forward Bloc are under going a similar resurrection. The Bloc continues its veiled criticism of its bigger partner as before.

Some changes are visible, as the left seeks to wrest some of its lost political space. It is organising a series of big and small rallies all over the state over price rise, corruption, and Maoist activities, reactivating its cadre and supporter base. Top leaders including the Chief Minister and the Front chairman are addressing the bigger rallies. The attendance is encouraging.

Politically, the situation is a little better. The Gurkha agitation for separate statehood is weakening. A semblance of normal political and administrative activity has resumed in the three Maoist-infested south-western districts. The Maoists are definitely on the back foot, which has added to the worries of the Trinamool Congress. The battle for Bengal is far from over.

Somewhat short on new ideas and issues, TMC leader Ms Mamata Banerjee has started attacking the left on land acquisition practices the state government adopted prior to the establishment of the flourishing, modern Rajarhat township. However, this campaign is not proving as simple as that in Nandigram or Singur. The conditions and background are different.

The TMC is raising issues that are over a decade old. Also, Housing Minister Gautam Deb has put up a spirited defence of what has been done at Rajarhat, unlike the CPI(M)”S earlier pathetic efforts to justify actions at Singur or Nandigram. This is not to suggest that the land transfer from the rural poor at Rajarhat has been fair. No acquisition ever is. There have been complaints.

For Ms Banerjee, a fresh Rajarhat agitation, the core of which consists of old issues, is a major challenge. It will test her popularity and crowd mobilising power as never before. . Unlike what has gone before, the left is now fully mobilised to counter her move for move, for the first time since the Nandigram police firing on March 14, 2007, a watershed date for state politics. The signs are not encouraging for the TMC. As the Union Railway Minister, Ms Banerjee has to devote time for official work, however unwillingly and no matter how badly the Railways are being run at the moment--- no one has any doubts on that score. Only the rocklike support of the Congress (I) at the centre protects her. Added to these responsibilities, onerous as they are, Ms Banerjee cannot always rise above temptations for fresh publicity. What else can explain her decision to inaugurate the National film festival at Goa?

The abysmal functioning of the TMC-led panchayats and their corruption in South and north 24 Parganas, is common knowledge. The question is, how many hats can the doughty TMC leader wear at the same time? She succeeded with her party-led agitations at Singur and Nandigarm, but she was not a Union Minister then. The fact that she does not share her burdens within the TMC with anyone, there being no second party leader, does not help. And routing out the CPI(M) from West Bengal can never be a part time objective for any political challenger.

Ironically, it is the singular ineptness of the left-run state government -surely one of the most inefficient in India? that helps her cause more than the raucous rallies and disruptive protests organised by her supporters. It seems there is hardly any governance in the state. A random sample of the government’s performance in recent days: Jadavpur University engineering students have boycotted their exams over a minor incident involving police action on the campus. The judiciary has pulled up state police officials for not following up on routine investigation into criminal cases, which results in an inability to put up charge sheets. Every day on average, 8 to 10 people are killed in road accidents, some of which spawn destructive road rage and finally the centre is upset over the state’s failure to take any action, unlike other states, to identify and arrest illegal Bangladeshis staying and working here.

Apart, a crippling debt burden of nearly Rs 200,000 crore, among the highest in India, has stalled development activities. The centre has just turned down a proposed new power plant at Bakreswar, not convinced that the state can repay its loans. This, at a time when the state runs average 500/600 megawatts deficit in summer with all its units functioning!

Mob violence over a breakdown of minimal medical service at government hospitals is now a daily occurrence. Errant auto drivers in Kolkata and neighbouring districts continue to use cheap harmful fuel that pollutes the environment, defying specific court directives.

The list is by no means exhaustive. There is no doubt the left in West Bengal has not been able to run the administration well. Such a record reinforces the familiar conclusion is those in the left are far better agitators than administrators, even after being 34 years in power! This is what the people of the state have learnt and this is what causes them to move over to the TMC camp in droves but then nobody knows what will happen thereafter. (IPA Service)