LUCKNOW: The Communist parties are becoming non-existent in Uttar Pradesh if one goes by the numbers in the state Assembly where they failed to get even a single seat in 2007. On the other hand, the Left is very much present if its vast network of cadre is assessed.
Both the CPM and the CPI have organisational structure firmly rooted in 70 out of 75 districts of the state and a strong leadership. With six people, including the ministerial staff, complacently basking in the sunshine on poorly managed lawns and entire office lying deserted, the mood and atmosphere in the Vidhan Sabha road office of the CPM is not very encouraging. The CPM office here resembles a haunted house! After a long wait, member of the party’s state secretariat Prem Nath Rai reaches the office and soon settles down in his dark and dingy office.
“This time we are confident of winning a good number of seats,” said Prem Nath, who said the Left parties, including Forward Block and the CPI, were contesting the election jointly. He said it was true that the Communist parties had their golden period in the 60s and 70s when the CPI and CPM had won 18 seats and 14 seats respectively in 1967.
The rise of the ‘kamandal’ (Hindutva forces in the Ram Janam Bhoomi movement) and the ‘mandal’ (castiest forces in the name of social justice) slowly marginalised the communist movement. The cadre and leadership of the two parties got swayed and shifted their loyalties to the communal and castiest forces.
CPM’s state head Mitrasen Yadav joined hands with Mulayam Singh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party and so was the case with CPI leaders who went with others.
“We admit that the forces of the kamandal and the mandal marginalised us on the political horizons, but it will be wrong to say our leadership also deserted us,” said state secretary of the CPI Girish Bihari.
Unlike the CPM, mood in the CPI office and among the cadre is more enthusiastic. All the three leaders were unanimous in blaming the media for discriminating against the Communist parties.