CHENNAI: Two Left parties — CPI(M) and CPI — have been allocated six seats each for the ensuing Assembly elections in the DMK alliance.
While the parties’ dependency on Dravidian giants for securing MP and MLA seats is a political reality, both the Left parties have remained a strong voice for labourers, farmers and Dalits in the State.
Despite its presence in the State for the past six decades, why have the parties not matured into a major political force here?
A look into the electoral results reveal that both the CPM and CPI have had a poor success rate whenever they contested elections without allying with either of the Dravidian majors.
The parties’ vote share which swung between five to six per cent since 1967, dwindled to merely one per cent in 2014.
They were forced to leave the AIADMK alliance during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections after they were offered only one seat each. The CPM and CPI contested in nine and eight constituencies, respectively, and together polled in nearly 4.39 lakh votes (one per cent).
The CPM has been known for its stance taken in the interest of peasants and labourers for over five decades.
The party stood for the Dalit labourers during the Kilvenmani massacre in 1968, where 42 workers were burnt alive.
It also fought alongside activists against the 1992 police and revenue officials’ brutality in Vachathi village in Dharmapuri, where 18 tribal women were sexually assaulted.
Political researchers say that the Left parties, which are ideologically secular and progressive as much as the Dravidian parties, did not grow as a political force because of failure in main-streaming their ideas, and their ‘delayed’ understanding about Tamil politics, imposition of Hindi and caste reforms.
Even in the 1957 Assembly elections, the first one to take place after reorganising the State boundaries on basis of language, the undivided Left secured 9.6 per cent votes, winning four seats, while the DMK, which contested elections for the first time, got 14.6 per cent votes, emerged as an Opposition for the Congress party.
A section of Left leaders agreed that their reluctance in recognising the ‘Tamil’ identity helped the DMK capture the anti-Congress sentiment.
The party repeated the mistake in 1965, during agitations against the Hindi imposition. When the Official Language Bill was presented in the Parliament in 1965, DMK founder CN Annadurai opposed the move strongly, but Bhupesh Gupta of the CPI defended its usage as the sole official language of multi-lingual India.
The CPI further suggested a three-language formula for Tamil Nadu, making Hindi as one of the compulsory languages. However, the CPM never supported the language imposition, and distanced itself from the discussion.
However, fast forward a few decades, the CPM recognised caste discrimination and emerged as a strong voice against the same in late 90s. In 2009, the CPM also held several rallies and meetings, joining hands with several other organisations, for a separate reservation for Arunthathiyars.
The party also demanded a separate law to prevent honour killings.