In the present Lok Sabha, out of the total strength of 543 seats, the CPI(M) has got nine and the CPI only one-a total of ten for the Left parties..There has been a steady erosion from the figure of 61 in 2004 Lok Sabha elections and 24 in 2009 Lok Sabha elections. The erosion principally took place because of the drastic fall in the Lok Sabha seats from West Bengal which contributed to the largest number of seats to the Left Front and the CPI-M since 1980 Lok Sabha elections. In 2014 Lok Sabha elections, out of the 42 seats from West Bengal, the CPI(M) got only two seats against 34 won by its main rival Trinamool Congress.

The conventional left politics have no place in 2015 India. Sitaram, as the leader of the largest party of the left component, has to be equally innovative in strategizing the road path since the Left and the secular democrats are facing stiff competition from a Prime Minister who is of a backward caste himself, is self made, has deep understanding of India and has out-of-the-box thinking in dealing with urgent issues. He has established himself as an icon for the present, both to Indian urban poor and the netizens. He has an undisputed appeal among Indian diaspora because he represents the big aspirations of educated NRIs tinged in nationalistic pride. Indian diaspora really believes that this century belongs to India and the IMF has further given this feeling a big push by indicating that India is surpassing China shortly in growth rate.

The Left has long got disconnected from this aspiring class both in India and abroad. The introduction of technology has changed the character of the working class approach and even in the earlier bastions of the left trade unions like banks and insurance, the high level of mechanization has been doing away with clerks and sub assistants leading to the process of new executives to keep them out of trade unions. This entire process has to be assessed with a fresh approach and a viable strategy evolved to maintain and, in some cases, restore the hold of the left trade unions.

How to fight the main enemy and who will be allies in that fight? This is the crucial question and without getting the right answer, all steps will be ad hoc and the Left will not be able to make any breakthrough in influencing the course of the national politics. There is no doubt that the CPI(M) has identified BJP as the main enemy and an allround fight has to be launched against the NDA led Government and the BJP in particular against their planned efforts to communalise the society and impart saffron direction to every branch of knowledge. Never in the history of independent India, such a situation arose where the BJP is at the helm of the centre with a clear majority and the Government is led by a Prime Minister who combines in himself the shady aspects of communal politics with the latest expertise in technology and communications.

Herein the question comes about the need for an innovative strategy to build a national level secular front against the main enemy BJP. The objective has to be to unseat BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and that is not impossible if a proper strategy can be worked out by developing the national level opposition against the BJP and the Modi Government opting for flexibility in the nature of the combination in different states, depending on the political situation on the ground.

The CPI(M) party congress has paid utmost attention on building up the independent strength of the Party. Here the massive tasks await the Party in West Bengal where a major chunk of the left masses have deserted the Party, mostly due to the corruption and high handedness of the district level party leaders. Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee has hijacked the pro-poor Left agenda and has been implementing these with more success compared to the erstwhile Left front Government led by the CPI(M).The new CPI(M) leadership has to take an objective assessment of the situation in West Bengal without going by the reports of the state party about terror tactics of the TMC leadership. In some cases, these are true but a real Communist Party base never shrinks due to terror. Sitaram has to effectively intervene in the affairs of the Bengal Party to ensure that the leaders with clean images are put in positions in districts and the state bosses give leadership to the struggles against Trinamool from the front. It will be a long haul for the CPI(M) to make some turnaround in West Bengal but still that is possible before 2021 assembly elections since Trinamool is a one person Party. For now, there is little hope of doing anything better in 2016 assembly elections.

The CPI(M) congress has certainly given focus on strengthening left unity, especially the unity of the two communist parties CPI(M) and the CPI but no specific time frame has been given. This unity issue is imperative now. If the Janata Parivar parties can merge into one party why can not CPI(M) and the CPI take concrete steps now for the unification of the parties. The international and national situation which led to the split in 1964 is completely changed and the two parties have adopted documents in the recent party congresses which are quite similar in strategies. CPI leadership has been calling for the merger and the new CPI-M leadership should respond to that by setting up a joint committee to draft the road map for the merger. This can take place at the next party congress in 2018 but the process has to start this year itself.

The CPI(M) leadership invited the CPI(ML) and the SUCI leadership at the Vizag congress this time and that has been a good gesture but as a first step for the united mobilization of the left leaning masses, the moves for the unification of the two communist parties is a must. That will help in galvanizing the left and democratic masses and that will also give hopes to the Janata Parivar parties for working seriously for an alternative to NDA.

The new CPI(M) general secretary has also to be pro-active in bringing the Janata Parivar within the framework of the anti-BJP alternative. There are differences and no left party should expect that these regional parties will agree to left’s views on economic policies. But if the primary task is to defeat communalism and protect the unity of the country, there can be compromise and the merged Janata Dal can be an integral part of the anti-BJP front as long as they are fully committed to fighting the BJP.
Finally, there is the crucial question of alliance with the Congress. Is a real nationwide battle possible without Congress in that combination? Objectively, it is not. With Manmohan Singh, Chidambaram and Montek not in power to influence policies and the Congress Party fully under the control of Sonia Gandhi and his son, there is a realistic possibility of roping in Congress in struggles against the BJP and the NDA government. Left is not in a position to dictate terms to others about programmes. Left has to work for a minimum programme to ensure that such a wide anti- BJP front emerges and that is not possible without participation of Congress.

The new CPI(M) general secretary has good equations with both Janata Parivar leaders and the Congress President Sonia Gandhi. He has to work out he maximum area of possible collaboration in fight against the NDA government’s policies and the BJP. If, it is possible to work out such a total anti-BJP collaboration in Parliament, why can’t this be made feasible outside the Parliament? That is the call of the nation and to quote an award winning Hollywood film “That’s the way for the future” in India. (IPA Service)