Congress-Left-ISF alliance fighting for political relevance, hopes to be kingmaker
Kolkata, Mar 27: With the poll narrative for the assembly poll in West Bengal sharply polarized between the ruling TMC and opposition BJP, the Congress-Left-ISF alliance is fighting to prove the political relevance of the parties in it and is pinning its hopes to be the kingmaker in case of a fractured mandate.
The Congress and CPI-M-led Left Front, which has been pushed to the margins of politics in Bengal after ruling it for 34 long years, has waived their ideological and political differences and came together for the second time after the 2016 assembly polls.
The Indian Secular Front(ISF) of cleric Peerzada Abbas Siddiqui is the new entrant to the "unlikely" coalition of the former rivals of secular, communist and religious forces. For Congress and the Left, the Bengal assembly poll this time is a battle for political survival after being squeezed out of the state's poll arena.
For ISF, a first of its kind political outfit in Bengal formed by a religious leader, it is a fight to prove that it is not a "one election wonder" and is here to stay. The alliance christened as "Samyukta Morcha" hopes to grow at the expense of both the ruling TMC and opposition BJP by eating into their votes.
The saffron party had pocketed the opposition votes for the past few years in the absence of a credible opposition. With ISF of firebrand religious leader Siddiqui in it, the 'Samyukta Morcha' hopes to eat into the 30 per cent minority vote bank, which had since 2011 slowly but steadily shifted to the TMC.
West Bengal Phase 1 Elections 2021: 26 of 30 seats voted for TMC in 2016
The minority has in fact acted as a bulwark for the Mamata Banerjee-led party in the wake of the saffron surge in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. However, the alliance with ISF has its own set of pitfalls as the Congress and the Left are facing the threat of losing out on the perception of its secular credentials. Siddiqui's outfit is being equated with All India Muslim League of pre-independent India and AIUDF in Assam and is in turn pushing towards the consolidation of Hindu votes thus benefitting the BJP.
Although both TMC and the BJP have blamed the alliance partners for being a "stooge" of each other, the saffron camp is happy with ISF's entry into the poll fray. It hopes that ISF's advent will break TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee's grip on the minority vote bank, over which it has failed to make a mark despite unprecedented success in the 2019 Bengal elections.
CPI(M) Politburo member Mohammed Salim said, "We are hopeful that the alliance will be a game changer in Bengal election. The BJP and TMC wanted to make the poll a bipolar fight. But we have made it a three-cornered contest. The people are fed up with the misrule of TMC in the state and by BJP at the Centre".
West Bengal Phase 1 Elections 2021: Key Candidates
Congress leader Pradip Bhattacharya echoed him and exuded confidence that the alliance will come up with "astonishing results" and can no longer be ignored. "Going by the response we have received, we are confident of winning the election. We will be the kingmaker after the poll. No one can form the government without our support," Siddiqui told reporters.
Despite a few glitches in the "rainbow alliance", the Left Front is contesting in 177 seats, the Congress 91 seats and ISF in 26. According to sources in both Congress and the Left, the alliance was the need of the hour.
The two parties, who had fought the 2016 assembly election as an alliance and bagged 36 per cent vote share, witnessed a sharp decline in its vote percentage within the next three years. The parties had managed to bag seven and five per cent votes respectively in the 2019 parliamentary poll, which they fought separately.
The Left Front had failed to open its account, while the Congress had managed to win just two out of the 42 Lok Sabha seats. BJP on the other hand bagged 18 seats, just four less than the TMC's 22.
Election Commission bans exit polls till 7:30 pm on April 29
"This alliance was the need of the hour as we are fighting for our political survival. TMC has taken over the Muslim votes and the BJP of the Hindus, while we are nowhere on the scene. The TMC through its poaching of the Left and Congress leaders have paved the way for BJP in the state," Leader of the Opposition and Congress leader Abdul Mannan said.
The steady decline of the Left and Congress was directly proportional to the rise of BJP. Bengal's political narrative has witnessed a sea change in the last few years with the advent of identity politics, CPI(M) central committee leader said while speaking on the necessity of roping in ISF, which is branded a religious outfit by TMC and the BJP, into the alliance.