More ominous than the party's shocking debacle in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls — it won fewer seats than it did on its debut in 1967! - is that its think tank is still without any answer, to the challenge posed by an upbeat Trinamool Congress and a resurgent Congress. There has been no organisational response to counter the obvious erosion of public faith in the party, apart from the routine district visits by Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.

Despite the statements issued by the central Committee and the politburo acknowledging the dismal showing in the general elections, majority opinion in the state, including important segments of opinion within the CPI(M), is that the soul searching was not deep enough. At the ideological level, there is a singular failure to explain and own up to the fact that after 32 years of uninterrupted rule, the CPI(M) fast becoming irrelevant even in West Bengal!

Perhaps ”soul searching” is wrong expression. Senior leaders have not yet come to terms with their new reduced status. A defeated MP long regarded as a pillar of strength in North 24 Parganas, told his followers the other day, “Don't think this defeat has finished me, I still remain what I was!”

It is another matter that such rhetoric does not inspire much faith among his fast dwindling flock. This gentleman, only days before the polls, had slapped a senior local committee member who dared to tell him that things were not looking good in his constituency! Result: he did not get reliable feedback anymore and lost some support within the party.

What about the discussions formal and informal among party cadres and leaders? Are they frank and wide ranging? Yes, according to senior party spokesmen — NO, say younger members who belong to the Democratic Youth Federation or the Students' Federation of India.

“Our leaders encourage us to speak, after the Lok sabha polls. We insist no, you speak, you must explain what has gone wrong, and why, It is for you leaders to explain everything. Defensive, they throw the ball back to us, saying you people work at the grassroot level, you know better. Clearly, our leaders don't have a clue!” says an SFI activist.

In true Stalinist tradition right up to 2009, the CPI(M) retains a vice like grip on its mass organisations, making no secret of its hatred of any “glasnost” within the ranks. Suddenly, promising DYF leader Tanmay Bhattacharya is resurrected as a party spokesman in TV debates, after his wings were clipped brutally earlier. Young editors of party journals complain of heavy handed “supervision “of their work and criticism of “liberal” articles by senior party mandarins. No wonder, most journals are not read even by the party faithful!

A promising youth leader, tired of kowtowing to stodgy old leaders who grew up only on a diet of hoary Marxist literature, opted for a job in Bangalore. The brother of a reporter in the party mouthpiece, a sympathizer, secured a job in the US — a country that is “the greatest threat to humanity”, according to Bhattacharjee!

Says a cultural front worker, ”Some of our Ministers and party leaders are good people, but most gave up reading years ago. This is the biggest single bane of our leadership, they are out of sync with what is happening in the world today.” A well-off senior sympathiser whose son works in Canada, says,” My son who works in the media in Montreal, asked me about the poll debacle. When I told him that our party had highlighted the Indo-US deal and the threat from imperialism, he laughed and said, such issues mean very little to today's youth, Dad! And he used to support the left, when he was here! And one of his s friends here told me after the polls, that he would not work for us any more but become politically inactive. He could not accept the party's line of passivity to counter Mamata Banerjee's aggressive campaigning in Nandigram and Singur.”

The process of inner party churning has thrown up some new interesting ideas. There is a strand of inner party opinion that maintains that the Left should have agreed to give 600 acres, and not 990, as demanded by Ms Banerjee, to the Tatas for their small car project. “If you look at the work that has been done at Singur, you will see that much of the area still remains vacant, which belies the official claim that 85% of the small car factory was complete. Also it was common knowledge that the opposition was looking for a solution, through Governor Gopal Gandhi, after a long, tiring agitation. But our Chief Minister stuck to his guns. Result: people did not blame Banerjee or her party for the loss of a major prestigious project, they blamed the left for its failure to protect a high profile industrialist who was personally interesting in locating his industry here. Our passivity put paid to our hopes.” says a left trade union leader.

The reasons for the party's abysmal decline are not far to seek. At the ideological level, there was a total atrophy, as intense debates and party classes have long been abandoned by the organisational leadership. Now that there is either an exodus of young members to other parties or groups or simple desertion, it is because most new entrants were not trained properly. Some even voted against the left during the panchayat polls and again during the Lok sabha polls. Reason? The heavy-handed functioning style of patently corrupt district leaders, who enjoyed the support of Alimuddin Street despite repeated complaints made against them.

”How can a functionary in Hooghly district, a local committee member who owned a tea shop 12 years ago, build a house with remote- controlled entrance and exit facilities? How can an MP in North 24 Parganas own a large house with CC TV facilities inside? Are such people close to the grassroots? No wonder poor angry villagers attacked such a palatial building in Midnapore after the polls, belonging to a so-called leader,” admits a youth activist. After 32 years in power, state leaders cannot claim that they were” not aware of what was happening”, the most commonly used phrase these days by CPI(M) state Secretary Mr. Biman Bose.

For the CPI(M),coupled with the lack of fresh ideological inputs during a difficult period, there came an abandonment of all responsibilities as a ruling party, compounding its confusion. Since the police firing at Nandigram on March 14 2007, the state government has sunk into a moratorium. Where all states implemented the rural employment programme assuring 100 days of work to villagers, there were only 17 days of work in west Bengal in 2007 and 19 days in 2008! There was no law and order in the Southwest districts of Bankura, Purulia and Midnapore for months, as the police ceased to function, ceding large areas to party activists or Maoists. Thanas ceased to function. In North Bengal, Gorkha Janmukti Morcha created a virtual Gorkhaland, as neither the political nor administrative will of the state prevailed there.

To puzzled observers, newsmen and impatient party cadres, the stock party response to charges of pathetic inaction on part of a non-existent state government, has been, “We are dealing with the situation politically, not as law and order problems.” This is the only official response from the geriatric left leaders whenever they face questions about a Congress sponsored agitation, a Maoist Bandh or a Gorkha demonstration. The party runs the government and its ideological barrenness is mirrored in a crippling paralysis of the administrative apparatus.

Does it mean the end of the road for the left? Too early to say, because even in 2009 LS polls, the left claimed 43% of the total votes, a formidable share yet. There is certainly scope for revival and a new galvanization of the old order. ”We urgently need new voices within our party and fresh faces, not tired old men leading us as before, for a turnaround,” says a seasoned CPI-M activist. But so far there is no sign that the old order is even thinking about passing the baton to younger hands. No wonder his expression does not match his optimistic words. (IPA)