The fate of the Left parties in India hangs in the balance currently. With the ongoing elections in 5 Indian states including Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, West Bengal and Assam, it has become a do or die situation for the Left parties to prove their existence in the country. The two states amidst these 5 states that have the Left presence is West Bengal and Kerala, hence it becomes their imperative to hold their bases here or else they might become a party of the past. While West Bengal was snatched from their clutches by the TMC, Kerala only remaining state where the Left has been incumbent. From a time when the CPI and the CPI(M) together holding the alliance of the Union government during the UPA regime to being reduced to a mere 5 seats today, the downfall of the Left in the nation has been unprecedented. Though the nation goes abuzz with the Left ideologies among the youth in some major national universities, in reality the party has been losing out on attracting the youth or the common masses lately.
The story was not alike in the past though. Right after Independence, the CPI was the main opposition while the Congress ruled the young nation. But come 1964, the party split in two giving birth to CPI(M), only to later come together to work jointly against the Rajiv Gandhi regime. In 2004, it was the Left support that allowed the Congress led UPA to keep the Atal Bihari Vajpayee led NDA from forming the Union government. But after its decision to withdraw support to UPA, post the US nuclear deal in 2008, it has been regularly losing its grounds. So much so, that today it has only one state under its rule – Kerala. But even here the last Lok Sabha election did not fare very well for the party as the people shifted their allegiance towards the Congress led UDF alliance in the state.
This makes the assembly elections 2021 very important for the party to regain its lost popularity. In West Bengal, it is sandwiched between the major poll battle of TMC and BJP. In Assam it has chosen to join the Grand Alliance led by Congress to save its fast depleting pockets of power. While in Kerala it faces a tough contest by the UDF. Though it does not seem that Left parties will make much of an impact in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Assam; West Bengal and Kerala might still turn the tables in their favour if everything goes right for them. The recent massive rally organised in West Bengal where lakhs joined in, might still be pointing that the time is just not over yet – for the Left to rise from the ashes. With the fight between the TMC and the BJP, the Left parties might just be able to take the right advantage to miraculously get that lost magic touch in the state. As for Kerala, though anti-incumbency might be play a major role in the elections, the fight might just not be over yet. With the Left managing an alliance with Kerala Congress just ahead of the polls and Kerala being a pre-dominantly Left stronghold, there might still be an edge for the Left in 2021.