West Bengal left front announces candidates for assembly polls

FRESH BLOOD IN LEFT FRONT CANDIDATE LIST

149 candidates out of total 294 seats are new faces, said Biman Basu while declaring the candidates’ list of the Left Front for the forthcoming assembly election in West Bengal. The introduction of these new faces is nothing new in left tradition, added Basu, mntioning that the number was 134 in the previous assembly election. However, names for two seats have not been declared today.

Basu declared the candidate list today (13^th March) after the state Left Front committee meeting. The meeting of the CPI (M) state committee held on 12^th and 13^th March. CPI (M), the largest party of the Left Front is going to contest in 210 seats, Forward Block is going to contest in 34 seats, RSP is going to contest in 23 seats, CPI is going to contest in 14 seats, Socialist Party is going to contest in 5 seats, DSP is going to contest in 2 seats, Marxist Forward Block is going to contest in 2 seats, RCPI in 2seats, BBC and RJD are going to contest in 1 seat each.

The candidate list represents all sections of the society. There are 46 female candidates in the list. In the previous assembly election it was 34. There is considerable representation of schedule caste and schedule tribes. In totality there are 84 constituencies reserved for SC/ST candidates. The Left Front has nominated 11 more such candidates (including 2 OBC candidates) from the unreserved general seats. The list also reads the name of 65 minority candidates, among them 57 candidates come from Muslim community.

Seven ministers are not going to contest elections. ‘But they would concentrate on organizational responsibilities and the left front workers do not hanker for being candidates’, added Biman Basu. Moreover he said the ministers themselves were not keen enough to contest the election either due to health hazards or increasing organizational responsibilities.

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will be contesting from Jadavpur constituency, Nirupam Sen will be contesting from Burdwan South, Dr. Suryakanta Mishra from Narayangarh and Gautam Deb will be contesting from Dumdum.

Left Front Committee
West Bengal
Assembly Election- 2011
List of Candidates
CONST NO	CONSTITUENCY NAME	NAME OF CANDIDATE	PARTY	M/F	NEW
1	Mekliganj (SC)	Paresh Chandra Adhikari	FB	M
2	Mathabhanga (SC)	Ananta Roy	CPIM	M
3	Coochbehar Uttar (SC)	Nagen Roy	FB	M	N
4	Coochbehar Dakshin	Akshoy Thakur	FB	M
5	Sitalkuchi (SC)	Biswanath Paramanik	CPIM	M	N
6	Sitai (SC)	Dipak Roy	FB	M	N
7	Dinhata	Udayan Guha	FB	M
8	Natabari	Tamser Ali	CPIM	M
9	Tufanganj	Dhananjoy Rava (ST)	CPIM	M	N
10	Kumargram (ST)	Dasarath Tirkey	RSP	M
11	Kalchini (ST)	Benoy Bhusan Kerketta	RSP	M	N
12	Alipurduars	Kshiti Goswami	RSP	M
13	Falakata (SC)	Rabindranath Burman	CPIM	M	N
14	Madarihat (ST)	Kumari Kujur	RSP	F
15	Dhupguri (SC)	Mamata Roy	CPIM	F	N
16	Maynaguri (SC)	Ananta Deb Adhikari	RSP	M	N
17	Jalpaiguri (SC)	Gobinda Roy	FB	M
18	Rajganj (SC)	Amulya Roy	CPIM	M	N
19	Dabgram-Fulbari	Dilip Singh	CPIM	M	N
20	Mal (ST)	Bulu Baraik	CPIM	M	N
21	Nagrakata (ST)	Sukhmoit Oraon	CPIM	F
22	Kalimpong	to be announced later on	CPI
23	Darjeeling	K. B. Wattar	CPIM	M
24	Kurseong	Dipa Chettry	CPIM	F	N
25	Matigara-Naxalbari (SC)	Jharen Roy	CPIM	M	N
26	Siliguri	Asoke Bhattacharya	CPIM	M
27	Phansidewa (ST)	Chotton Kisku	CPIM	M
28	Chopra	Anwarul Haque	CPIM	M
29	Islampur	Syeda Farhat Afroz	CPIM	F
30	Goalpokhar	Safiur Rahaman	FB	M	N
31	Chakulia	Ali Imran Ramz (Victor)	FB	M
32	Karandighi	Gokul Roy (SC)	FB	M
33	Hemtabad (SC)	Khagen Singha	CPIM	M
34	Kaliaganj (SC)	Nanigopal Roy	CPIM	M
35	Raiganj	Kiranmoy Nanda	SP	M
36	Itahar	Sreekumar Mukherjee	CPI	M
37	Kushmandi (SC)	Narmada Chandra Roy	RSP	M
38	Kumarganj	Mafooza Khatun	CPIM	F
39	Balurghat	Biswanath Chowdhury	RSP	M
40	Tapan (ST)	Khara Soren	RSP	M
41	Gangarampur (SC)	Nandalal Hazra	CPIM	M	N
42	Harirampur	Narayan Chandra Biswas	CPIM	M
43	Habibpur (ST)	Khagen Murmu	CPIM	M
44	Gazole (SC)	Gobinda Mondal	CPIM	M	N
45	Chanchal	Anzumanara Begam	CPIM	F
46	Harischandrapur	Tajmul Hossain	FB	M
47	Malatipur	Abdur Rahim Bakshi	RSP	M	N
48	Ratua	Sailen Sarkar	CPIM	M
49	Manikchak	Ratna Bhattacharya	CPIM	F	N
50	Maldaha (SC)	Rahul Ranjan Das	CPIM	M	N
51	English Bazar	Samar Roy	CPIM	M
52	Mothabari	Naimuddin Seikh	CPIM	M	N
53	Sujapur	Ketabuddin	CPIM	M
54	Baisnabnagar	Biswanath Ghosh	CPIM	M
55	Farakka	Abdus Salam	CPIM	M
56	Samserganj	Toab Ali	CPIM	M
57	Suti	Jane Alam Mian	RSP	M
58	Jangipur	Purnima Bhattacharya	CPIM	F	N
59	Raghunathganj	Hasnat Khan	RSP	M
60	Sagardighi	Ismail	CPIM	M	N
61	Lalgola	Yean Ali	CPIM	M	N
62	Bhgawangola	Chand Mohammad	SP	M
63	Raninagar	Maksuda Begam	FB	F	N
64	Murshidabad	Bibhas Chakraborty	FB	M
65	Nabagram (SC)	Kanai Mondal	CPIM	M	N
66	Khargram (SC)	Goutam Mondal	CPIM	M	N
67	Burwan (SC)	Benoy Sarkar	RSP	M	N
68	Kandi	Inal Haque	CPI	M	N
69	Bharatpur	Id Mohammad	RSP	M
70	Rejinagar	Sirajul Islam Mondal	RSP	M	N
71	Beldanga	Md. Refatullah	RSP	M
72	Baharampur	Tarit Bramhachari	RSP	M	N
73	Hariharpara	Insar Ali	CPIM	M
74	Nowda	Jayanta Biswas	RSP	M
75	Domkal	Anisur Rahaman	CPIM	M
76	Jalangi	Abdur Razzak	CPIM	M	N
77	Karimpur	Samar Ghosh	CPIM	M	N
78	Tehatta	Ranjit Mondal	CPIM	M	N
79	Palashipara	S. M. Saddi	CPIM	M
80	Kaliganj	Sankar Sarkar	RSP	M	N
81	Nakashipara	Gayetri Sardar (ST)	CPIM	F	N
82	Chapra	Samsul Islam Mollaha	CPIM	M
83	Krishnanagar Uttar	Subenoy Ghosh	CPIM	M
84	Nabadwip	Sumit Biswas	CPIM	M	N
85	Krishnanagar Dakshin	Rama Biswas (SC)	CPIM	F	N
86	Santipur	Yar Mullick	RCPI	M	N
87	Ranaghat Uttar Paschim	Meena Bhattacharya	CPIM	F	N
88	Krishnaganj (SC)	Barun Biswas	CPIM	M	N
89	Ranaghat Uttar Purba (SC)	Archana Biswas	CPIM	F	N
90	Ranaghat Dakshin (SC)	Aloke Das	CPIM	M
91	Chakdaha	Biswanath Gupta	CPIM	M	N
92	Kalyani (SC)	Jyotsna Sirkar	CPIM	F	N
93	Haringhata (SC)	Dr. Biswajit Paul	CPIM	M	N
94	Bagda (SC)	Mrinal Sikdar	FB	M	N
95	Bangaon Uttar (SC)	Dr. Biswajit Biswas	CPIM	M	N
96	Bangaon Dakshin (SC)	Anuj Sarkar	CPIM	M	N
97	Gaighata (SC)	Monoj Kanti Biswas	CPI	M	N
98	Swarupnagar (SC)	Sibapada Das	CPIM	M	N
99	Baduria	Md. Selim Gayen	CPIM	M
100	Habra	Pranab Bhattacharya	CPIM	M
101	Ashoknagar	Satyasebi Kar	CPIM	M
102	Amdanga	Abdus Sattar	CPIM	M
103	Bijpur	Nirjharini Chakarborty	CPIM	F
104	Naihati	Ranjit Kundu	CPIM	M
105	Bhatpara	Nepaldeb Bhattacharya	CPIM	M	N
106	Jagatdal	Haripada Biswas (SC)	FB	M
107	Noapara	Dr. K. D. Ghosh	CPIM	M
108	Barrackpur	Dr. Madhusudan Samanta	CPIM	M	N
109	Khardaha	Asim DasGupta	CPIM	M
110	Dum Dum Uttar	Rekha Goswami	CPIM	F
111	Panihati	Dulal Chakraborty	CPIM	M	N
112	Kamarhati	Manas Mukherjee	CPIM	M
113	Baranagar	Amar Choudhury	RSP	M
114	Dum Dum	Gautam Deb	CPIM	M
115	Rajarhat New Town	Tapas Chatterjee	CPIM	M	N
116	Bidhannagar	Palash Das	CPIM	M	N
117	Rajarhat Gopalpur	Robin Mondal	CPIM	M
118	Madhyamgram	Ranjit Choudhury	FB	M	N
119	Barasat	Sanjib Chatterjee	FB	M	N
120	Deganga	Dr. Mortaza Hossain	FB	M
121	Haroa	Imtiaz Hossain	CPIM	M	N
122	Minakhan (SC)	Dilip Roy	CPIM	M	N
123	Sandeshkhali (ST)	Nirapada Sardar	CPIM	M	N
124	Basirhat Dakshin	Narayan Mukherjee	CPIM	M
125	Basirhat Uttar	Mostafa Bin Kasem	CPIM	M
126	Hingalganj (SC)	Ananda Mondal	CPI	M	N
127	Gosaba (SC)	Samarendra Nath Mondal	RSP	M	N
128	Basanti (SC)	Subhas Naskar	RSP	M
129	Kultali (SC)	Ramsankar Halder	CPIM	M
130	Patharpratima	Jagneswwar Das	CPIM	M
131	Kakdwip	Milan Bhattacharya	CPIM	M	N
132	Sagar	Milan Parua	CPIM	M
133	Kulpi	Sakuntala Paik (SC)	CPIM	F
134	Raidighi	Kanti Ganguly	CPIM	M
135	Mandirbazar (SC)	Dr. Sarat Halder	CPIM	M	N
136	Jaynagar (SC)	Shyamali Halder	CPIM	F	N
137	Baruipur Purba (SC)	Bimal Mistri	CPIM	M
138	Canning Paschim (SC)	Joydeb Purokait	CPIM	M	N
139	Canning Purba	Abdur Rezzzak Mollah	CPIM	M
140	Baruipur Paschim	Kanak Kanti Paria	CPIM	M	N
141	Magrahat Purba (SC)	Chandan Saha	CPIM	M	N
142	Magrahat Paschim	Dr. Abul Hasnat	CPIM	M
143	Diamond Harbour	Smt. Subhra Shaw	CPIM	F	N
144	Falta	Ardhendu Sekhar Bindu	CPIM	M	N
145	Satgachhia	Barun Naskar (SC)	CPIM	M	N
146	Bishnupur (SC)	Prof. Sudhin Sinha	CPIM	M	N
147	Sonarpur Dakshin	Tarit Chakraborty	CPI	M	N
148	Bhangar	Badal Jamadar	CPIM	M
149	Kasba	Satarup Ghosh	CPIM	M	N
150	Jadavpur	Buddhadeb Bhattacharya	CPIM	M
151	Sonarpur Uttar	Shyamal Naskar (SC)	CPIM	M
152	Tollyganj	Prof. Partha Pratim Biswas	CPIM	M
153	Behala Purba	KumKum Chakraborty	CPIM	F
154	Behala Paschim	Prof. Anupam DebSarkar	CPIM	M	N
155	Maheshtala	Sk. Md. Israil	CPIM	M	N
156	Budge Budge	Hrisikesh Poddar	CPIM	M	N
157	Metiaburuz	Badrudoja Mollah	CPIM	M	N
158	Kolkata Port	Moinuddin Sams	FB	M	N
159	Bhabanipur	Narayan Jain	CPIM	M
160	Rashbehari	Prof. Santanu Bose	CPIM	M	N
161	Ballygunge	Dr. Fuad Halim	CPIM	M	N
162	Chowrangee	Bimal Singh	RJD	M	N
163	Entally	Dr. Debesh Das (SC)	CPIM	M
164	Beleghata	Anadi Sahoo	CPIM	M
165	Jorasanko	Janki Singh	CPIM	F	N
166	Shyampukur	Jiban Saha	FB	M
167	Maniktala	Rupa Bagchi	CPIM	F
168	Kashipur-Belgachhia	Kaninika Ghosh	CPIM	F	N
169	Bally	Kanika Ganguly	CPIM	F
170	Howrah Uttar	Nemai Samanta	CPIM	M	N
171	Howrah Madhya	Arup Roy	CPIM	M
172	Shibpur	Dr. Jagannath Bhattacharya	FB	M
173	Howrah Dakshin	Krishna Kishor Roy	CPIM	M
174	Sankrail (SC)	Anirban Hazra	CPIM	M
175	Panchla	Doly Roy	FB	F
176	Uluberia Purba	Mohan Mondal	CPIM	M	N
177	Uluberia Uttar (SC)	Bhim Ghuku	CPIM	M	N
178	Uluberia Dakshin	Sk. Kutubuddin Ahmad	FB	M	N
179	Shyampur	Minati Pramanik	FB	F	N
180	Bagnan	Akkel Ali	CPIM	M
181	Amta	Rabindranath Mitra	CPIM	M
182	Udaynarayanpur	Chandralekha Bag	CPIM	F
183	Jagatballavpur	Kaji Jaffar Ahmed	CPIM	M	N
184	Domjur	Mohanta Chatterjee	CPIM	M
185	Uttarpara	Srutinath Praharaj	CPIM	M
186	Sreerampur	to be announced later on	CPI
187	Champdani	Jibesh Chakraborty	CPIM	M
188	Singur	Dr. Asit Das	CPIM	M	N
189	Chandannagar	Sibaprasad Banerjee	CPIM	M
190	Chunchura	Naren Dey	FB	M
191	Balagarh (SC)	Bhuban Pramanik	CPIM	M
192	Pandua	Amzad Hossain	CPIM	M	N
193	Saptagram	Ashutosh Mukhopadhaya	CPIM	M
194	Chanditala	Sk. Azim Ali	CPIM	M	N
195	Jangipara	Prof. Sudarshan Roy Chowdhury	CPIM	M
196	Haripal	Bharati Mukherjee	CPIM	F
197	Dhanekhali (SC)	Srabani Sarkar	FB	F	N
198	Tarakeswar	Pratim Chatterjee	MFB	M
199	Pursurah	Soumendranath Bera	CPIM	M
200	Arambag (SC)	Asit Malik	CPIM	M	N
201	Goghat (SC)	Biswanath Karak	FB	M	N
202	Khanakul	Subhra Parui	CPIM	F	N
203	Tamluk	Jagannath Mitra	CPI	M
204	Panskura Purba	Amiya Sahoo	CPIM	M
205	Panskura Paschim	Nirmal Kr. Bera	CPI	M	N
206	Moyna	Mujibur Rahaman	CPIM	M
207	Nandakumar	Bramhamoy Nanda	SP	M
208	Mahisadal	Tamalika Panda Seth	CPIM	F
209	Haldia (SC)	Nityananda Bera	CPIM	M
210	Nandigram	Pramananda Bharati	CPI	M
211	Chandipur	Bidyut Guchait	CPIM	M	N
212	Patashpur	Makhan Nayek	CPI	M	N
213	Kanthi Uttar	Chakradhar Meikap (OBC)	CPIM	M
214	Bhagabanpur	Ranjit Manna	SP	M	N
215	Khejuri (SC)	Asim Mondal	SP	M	N
216	Kanthi Dakshin	Uttam Kr. Pradhan	CPI	M	N
217	Ramnagar	Swadesh Ranjan Nayek	CPIM	M
218	Egra	Prof. Hrisikesh Paira	DSP	M	N
219	Dantan	Arun Mahapatra	CPI	M	N
220	Nayagram (ST)	Bhutnath Soren	CPIM	M
221	Gopiballavpur	Rabilal Moitra	CPIM	M
222	Jhargram	Amar Bose	CPIM	M
223	Keshiary (ST)	Biram Mandi	CPIM	M	N
224	Kharagpur Sadar	Anil Das	CPIM	M	N
225	Narayangarh	Suryakanta Mishra	CPIM	M
226	Sabang	Rampada Sahoo	BBC	M	N
227	Pingla	Prof. Probodh Ch. Sinha	DSP	M
228	Kharagpur	Nazmul Haque	CPIM	M
229	Debra	Sorab Hossain Sk.	CPIM	M	N
230	Daspur	Sunil Adhikari	CPIM	M
231	Ghatal (SC)	Chabi Pakhira	CPIM	F	N
232	Chandrakona (SC)	Chaya Dalui	CPIM	F	N
233	Garbeta	Sushanta Ghosh	CPIM	M
234	Salboni	Abhiram Mahato	CPIM	M	N
235	Keshpur (SC)	Rameswar Dalui	CPIM	M
236	Medinipur	Santosh Rana	CPI	M
237	Binpur (ST)	Dibakar Hansda	CPIM	M	N
238	Bandwan (ST)	Susanta Besra	CPIM	M	N
239	Balarampur	Manindra Gope (OBC)	CPIM	M	N
240	Baghmundi	Mongal Mahato	FB	M	N
241	Joypur	Dhiren Mahato	FB	M	N
242	Purulia	Koushik Majumdar	CPIM	M	N
243	Manbazar (ST)	Himani Hansda	CPIM	F	N
244	Kashipur	Subhas Mahato	CPIM	M
245	Para (SC)	Dipak Bauri	CPIM	M	N
246	Raghunathpur (SC)	Dipali Bauri	CPIM	F	N
247	Saltora (SC)	Sasthi Charan Bauri	CPIM	M	N
248	Chhatna	Anathbandhu Mondal	RSP	M
249	Ranibandh (ST)	Debalina Hembram	CPIM	F
250	Raipur (ST)	Upen Kisku	CPIM	M
251	Taldangra	Monoranjan Patra	CPIM	M
252	Bankura	Pratip Mukherjee	CPIM	M	N
253	Barjora	Sushmita Biswas	CPIM	F
254	Onda	Tarapada Chakraborty	FB	M
255	Bishnupur	Swapan Ghosh	CPIM	M
256	Katulpur (SC)	Purnima Bagdi	CPIM	F	N
257	Indus (SC)	Santanu Bora	CPIM	M	N
258	Sonamukhi (SC)	Monoranjan Chongre	CPIM	M	N
259	Khandaghosh (SC)	Nabin Chandra Bag	CPIM	M	N
260	Bardhaman Dakshin	Nirupam Sen	CPIM	M
261	Raina (SC)	Basudeb Khan	CPIM	M	N
262	Jamalpur (SC)	Samar Hazra	MFB	M
263	Monteswar	Choudhury Mohd. Hedaetullaha	CPIM	M
264	Kalna (SC)	Pranab Sikdar	CPIM	M	N
265	Memari	Debasis Ghosh	CPIM	M	N
266	Bardhaman Uttar (SC)	Aparna Saha	CPIM	F	N
267	Bhatar	Srijit Konar	CPIM	M	N
268	Purbasthali Dakshin	Aleaya Begam	CPIM	F	N
269	Purbasthali Uttar	Pradip Saha	CPIM	M	N
270	Katwa	Sudipta Bagchi	CPIM	M
271	Ketugram	Syed Abdul Kader	CPIM	M	N
272	Mangalkot	Sajahan Choudhury	CPIM	M	N
273	Ausgram (SC)	Basudeb Mete	CPIM	M	N
274	Galsi (SC)	Sunil Kr. Mondal	FB	M	N
275	Pandabeswar	Gouranga Chatterjee	CPIM	M	N
276	Durgapur Purba	Alpana Choudhury	CPIM	F	N
277	Durgapur Paschim	Biprendu Chakraborty	CPIM	M
278	Raniganj	Runu Dutta	CPIM	M	N
279	Jamuria	Jahanara Khan	CPIM	F	N
280	Asansol Dakshin	Asoke Mukherjee	CPIM	M	N
281	Asansol Uttar	Ranu Roy Choudhury	CPIM	F	N
282	Kulti	Manik Lal Acharya	FB	M
283	Barabani	Abhas Roy Choudhury	CPIM	M	N
284	Dubrajpur (SC)	Bejoy Bagdi	FB	M
285	Suri	Abdul Gaffar	CPIM	M	N
286	Bolpur	Tapan Hore	RSP	M
287	Nanoor (SC)	Shyamali Pradhan	CPIM	F	N
288	Labpur	Nabanita Mukherjee	CPIM	F
289	Sainthia (SC)	Dhiren Bagdi	CPIM	M
290	Mayureswar	Asoke Roy	CPIM	M	N
291	Rampurhat	Rebati Ranjan Bhattacharya	FB	M	N
292	Hansan	Kamal Hasan	RCPI	M	N
293	Nalhati	Dipak Chatterjee	FB	M
294	Murarai	Dr. Kamre Elahi	CPIM	M

Left parties to contest in 48 seats in Assam

The Left parties comprising of CPI(M), CPI, CPI-ML and Forward Bloc will unitedly fight in 48 constituencies in the upcoming Assam assembly elections next month. The CPI(M)  will contest in 17 constituencies, CPI in 22 and CPI-ML in eight and Forward Bloc in one. CPIM has already named the candidates for the 17 constituencies.

 

The Left parties in Assam are strong in the Bengali dominated Barak valley area in southern Assam consisting mainly of Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj districts. The Alliance's candidates will contest in four constituencies in Barak Valley's Cachar district with CPI-M's Parimal Paul in Silchar, CPI's Brajendra Das in Dholai and CPI-ML candidate Haidar Hussain in Udharbond.

The lone Forward Block candidate for the Sonai seat would be finalized later, Acharjee added. The left parties has formed the alliance "to save the people of Assam from the common enemy - Congress and BJP - by raising issues like price rise, rampant corruption by Congress, failure to bring about development, etc." 

CPIM kickstarts election campaign in Tamilnadu

CPIM General Secretary Com. Prakash Karat started the election campaign of the party to the Tamil Nadu assembly elections. CPIM and CPI are alliance partners with AIDMK. The campaign started with a largely attended public meeting in Dindugal. State level leaders of the Party were present in the function.

The People of Tamil Nadu should put an end to the rule of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam that had “institutionalised corruption”, Prakash Karat said . All resources and benefits of Tamil Nadu, one of the fastest growing States in the country, should not go to a single family, he said.

He said Tamil Nadu needed a strong government that would generate suitable employment opportunities to youth, frame policies for development of agriculture, offer remunerative prices to farmers, ensure livelihood of workers and provide basic services to all. But a corrupt regime presided over by a single family ruling the State was a misfortune for the people of Tamil Nadu, he said.

“Do you think that the drama of withdrawing support by the DMK was due to a bargain in offering three seats to Congress? The actual negotiation was how to cover up the 2G spectrum corruption,” he charged. In 2009 Lok Sabha polls, the CPI (M) had warned about corruption in spectrum allocation. Though the people did not believe it then, they had realised this now. The government must cancel 2G spectrum allocation and go for re-auction to offset the loss which was eight times of health budget and three times of total education budget. But the Congress would not do it because the companies which enjoyed the benefits would expose the party, he said.

The country had been facing two major crises — corruption and price increase — created by the DMK and Congress. Price rise was not due to increase in prices of commodities in global market as put forth by the Prime Minister but because of the Centre's wrong policies like de-controlling petrol price, he said. “The CPI (M) has been ruling in three States and you will not find a single corruption charge against the Chief Ministers or other Ministers,” Mr. Karat said.

On the ocassion Com Prakash Karat also received the election fund of Rs. 5 Lakh collected by the Party District Committee. He later attended a public meeting in Madurai - IsmailPuram 2nd street . He will also attend a meeting on Friday in Nagapattinam.

LDF Kerala website inaugurated

The website of Left Democratic Front, Kerala was inaugurated by Com. V S Achuthanandan at AKG centre, Trivandrum. The website named www.ldfkeralam.org will give details about the LDF manifesto for the assembly elections, the website also showcases the achievements of the LDF Government. Various LDF leaders including Com. Pinarayi Vijayan (CPIM State Secretary), Com. C K Chandrappan(CPI State Secretary), LDF Convenor Com. Vaikom Viswan was present during the function. Leaders said that in the coming days the biodata of candidates for each consitituency will also be displayed in the website.

For a Better India, Ensure Success of the Left

Editorial - Peoples Democracy

In West Bengal, the principal opponent seeking to defeat the seven term in office Left Front is the Trinamul Congress-Congress alliance. The Trinamul Congress, as repeatedly pointed out in these columns, is openly collaborating with the 'Maoists' in fomenting terror and violence as the means to achieve the objective of defeating the Left Front. As we go to press, this Trinamul-'Maoist' nexus has claimed the lives of nearly 400 Left Front workers since the 2009 May general elections. It is worse than being ironical that the Congress party which heads the government at the centre and the Trinamul which is a constituent of the ruling UPA should align with the 'Maoists' who openly declare war against the system of parliamentary democracy in India.

Further, the Trinamul Congress had been a member of the BJP-led NDA and its leader served as the minister of railways then as she is doing today under the UPA. Having left the NDA briefly to align with the Congress in the 2001 assembly elections, the Trinamul Congress rejoined the NDA and the BJP-led ministry soon after the communal carnage in Gujarat in 2002. Thus, it explicitly endorsed the BJP’s communal pogrom in Gujarat. The Congress party which claims to be the principal opponent of communalism has no compunctions in joining with the Trinamul whose hands are smeared, by association, with the blood of horrific communal riots.

While being a part of the NDA, the Trinamul Congress allowed the entry of the communal forces into Bengal and facilitated the victory of some BJP candidates to the parliament. Today, as part of the UPA, the Trinamul facilitates the entry and operation of the 'Maoists' in Bengal and collaborates with them in spreading terror and violence. Such is the company that the Congress party keeps. Such is the character of those who are seeking to defeat the Left Front by forging a grand alliance of all reactionary forces.

Through these issues, we seek not merely to expose the reactionary and regressive character of those who oppose us. It is not just for remaining in power or government that we are asking for ensuring the success of the Left Front in West Bengal and the LDF in Kerala. Defending the Left-led formations in West Bengal and Kerala is defending the vision that we articulated regarding the character of an independent India. The three visions of independent India that emerged during the freedom movement – the first envisioned the future of independent India as a secular democratic republic. The second, the Left vision, looked upon the future of India as not merely gaining political freedom from British colonialism, but consolidating the secular democratic republic by transforming the political independence gained by the country into the true economic independence of its entire people, that is, the establishment of socialism. The third vision in complete opposition to the above two, sought to define the character of the independent India on the basis of the religious denomination of its people. This had a twin expression – the RSS advocating its fascistic vision of a rabidly intolerant “Hindu Rashtra” and the Muslim League seeking the partition of the country to establish an Islamic republic. The ideological battle amongst these three visions, continues till date and the present-day political developments revolve around these parameters. West Bengal and Kerala are the outposts of the vision articulated by the Left and therefore, defending the governments in these states means defending the Left vision and importantly defending India, as we know of it today. This is the pre-condition to carry forward our battle for creating a better India.

The struggle for a linguistic reorganisation of the states under independent India spearheaded by the Communists – Vishalandhra followed by Aikya Kerala and Samyukta Maharashtra – laid the foundations for the political organisation of India. The militant and massive struggles of the peasantry led by the Communists brought the issue of land reforms and abolition of landlordism on to the agenda. This resulted in drawing the vast mass of rural India into India’s political democracy while economically empowering them. The decentralisation of power and deepening of democracy initiated by the Left strengthened the political institutions of democracy, thus, creating the India of today.

The governments in West Bengal and Kerala implemented a number of pro-people measures within the present system and projected an alternative trajectory to the bourgeois-landlord system in India. The radical land reforms in West Bengal resulted in the distribution of nearly 1.3 million acres of land among the landless. Even by a very modest estimation of the value of land distributed among the poor, nearly Rs 1,30,000 crores worth of wealth was transferred to the poor from the rich by the West Bengal government. The panchayati raj system in both the states has decentralised power and led to the deepening of democracy at the grassroots through the establishment and efficient functioning of democratic institutions of local self-governments. It was a full seventeen years after the establishment of a three-tier system of democratically elected bodies by the Left Front in West Bengal that the panchayati raj system was adopted for the country through the 73rd and 74th Constitutional amendments.

The Left has been the most steadfast in defending secularism and maintaining communal harmony. Apart from safeguarding the rights of the minorities, the Left Front government in West Bengal is the first in the country to implement the Ranganath Mishra Commission’s recommendations and is granting 10 per cent reservations to the Muslim OBCs.

The Left has been in the forefront of championing the rights of the people and their livelihood standards from being gravely eroded by the pursuit of neo-liberal economic policies by the central government. We consistently fought against the Indian ruling classes who are surrendering the interests of the Indian people and the country by seeking a strategic partnership with imperialism. We have also demonstrated by implementing various pro-people measures that even within the existing system, greater relief can be provided to the people and thereby exposed the exploitative character of the Indian ruling classes. Because of all these factors, the Indian ruling classes have mounted a concerted offensive against the CPI(M), in its strongest bastions, in order to weaken the resistance to their unbridled loot through the neo-liberal economic trajectory.

The Left is committed to a path of strengthening democracy and advancing development in an atmosphere of peace in West Bengal. It is precisely these objectives that the Trinamul-'Maoist' nexus is undermining in its urge to capture power at any cost. The CPI(M) led Left Front is determined to safeguard the advances made by the people of Bengal and to politically isolate and defeat this reactionary combination of anarchic forces. It is through a prolonged struggle against such very forces in the 1970s where over 1400 CPI(M) comrades were martyred and over 22,000 Party families had to be relocated that the Left Front emerged victorious in 1977 and continued to serve the people and deepen democracy while maintaining peace and advancing development.

The defence of the Left Front government in West Bengal is, therefore, an important pre-requisite in our struggle to create a better India for our people.