By Tirthankar Mitra
KOLKATA: The unprecedented collapse of the Trinamool Congress following the assembly election reverses in 2026 polls has given big opportunities to the Left Front led by the CPI(M) and the Congress to emerge as the opposition to the BJP dominated state government in Bengal. The CPI(M) got only one seat in the new assembly while its ally ISF got another one. As against that, the Congress on its own won in two seats. The erstwhile ruling party Trinamool Congress got 80 seats.
Under normal circumstances, the TMC would have jumped into movement against the BJP government with its big strength in the assembly. But the things are now different. The legislative party of the TMC has been taken over by the rebels while in Lok Sabha, about 20 out of 28 members are reported to have written to the Speaker seeking per4mission to form a separate bloc of MPs who will be part of NDA. One by one, the corporations and municipal boards are collapsing. The TMC councillors and the MLAs are getting arrested. There is no organization to fight against the BJP. The field is open for the Left and the Congress to fight the BJP.
The state CPI(M) led by its students and youth wing is taking the lead in resisting the demolition drive being carried out by the state government against the hawkers in Sealdah and Howrah stations. On June 8 early hours, the demolition squad of the state government ransacked the hutments and the shops in the Jadavpur station area. The CPI(M) and the Congress workers fought that drive and got arrested. The affected hawkers alleged that the railway authorities did not keep the promise to stall demolition till the High Court sitting. There was no TMC demonstrator against the drive. The party cadres in Jadavpur area are mostly out of the area due to apprehensions of police actions.
Possibility of Left and Congress joining forces to fill in Opposition space was apparent soon after the poll results were out on May 4 and the TMC started crumbling organizationally. Though the Left and the Congress fought separately in assembly polls and also in Falta by election held on May 21, it was clear to both the groups that that with TMC non functional, it will be a good option for both to cooperate in fighting the state government. The Falta by-election result was a clear pointer that the two Opposition outfits were on a comeback trail though BJP had registered a convincing victory.
If the BJP nominee Debangshu Panda had emerged victorious by a margin of more than I lakh votes, a look at the four cornered contest in this South-24-Pargana Assembly segment gives an idea of the contours of Opposition space. Sambhunath Kurmi, the CPI(M) candidate trailed behind Panda while Abdur Rezzak Mollah of the Congress stood third by vote count.
The by-poll, held under the strict vigil of central para military forces left no opportunity of rigging and vote capturing. The emergence of CPI(M) and Congress nominees as second and third in respect of the vote count gives a feel of their ground level support under ideal electoral conditions.
Further credence is lent to the outline of their support is Trinamool Congress nominee Jahangir Khan being at the bottom of the heap. Though he was once fancied to have a cakewalk victory, Khan has trailed behind both the CPI(M) and Congress nominees. However, TMC has a point that Khan was forced to withdraw from the contest two days before the by poll and hundreds of TMC workers were arrested before the polling day.
A vacuum has emerged after the crushing defeat of Trinamool Congress. Subsequent splits in Trinamool have enlarged this void. Burning public interest issues like price rise, human rights violations during hawker eviction drive and shortcomings of the first ever saffron dispensation in West Bengal are unlikely to be emphatically taken up by the larger faction of the Trinamool Congress which has broken away from the party. Led by suspended legislators like Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha and thereupon recognised as the Opposition bloc leaves it “beholden to the ruling dispensation”.
The Congress is represented by two MLAs Julfikar Ali and Motab Sheikh while CPI(M) is represented by Mostafijur Rahman. The trio can shoot critical questions on sensitive issues to Treasury benches and keep it on its feet.
The Left Front and Congress contested the 2026 Assembly polls separately but if the two secular parties come together, there will be no dearth of issues in the days to come to go on an agitation mode.
In 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the Left-Congress alliance was ahead of TMC in 12 of the 294 Assembly segments. Congress led in Bahrampur, Suti, Farakka and Samsergunj in Murshidabad and Mothabari, Ratua, Malatipur, Sujapur, Harishchandrapur and Chanchal in Malda and Chakulia in North Dinajpur.
The CPI(M) led in Raninagar. The situation is ripe for an alliance if both the parties can shed rigidity in the interest of making their joint presence felt. Lest being quoted mar possibility of an alliance, a CPI(M) leader requesting anonymity said had the Left, Congress and Indian Secular Front (ISF) contested together at least 15 constituencies could have been won. The depleted share of seats resulted from the lack of a common front, he added.
Nandigram and Rejinagar by polls are round the corner. If a poll alliance in the lines of 2016 can be ironed out, the joint plank would go a long way in consolidating the minority votes and reversing the Hindu votes, CPI(M) sources stated. This formula would also be effective for the coming civic polls. These elections are not far off with members of municipalities and corporations stepping down.
Falta results, a senior TMC leader said that minority votes have shifted from the erstwhile ruling party and if the trend continues the grass-flower (read TMC symbol) support base will shift to Left and Congress as our leadership appears to be directionless, he added. When two political adversaries, Congress and CPI(M) came together in 2016 Assembly elections, the TMC leadership did not .think much of it. But it sat up in surprise when the alliance won 70 seats. In all, 44 seats were won by Congress and 26 went the CPI(M)’s bag. The joint Opposition pinned down the Treasury bench members by deft floor management during Assembly sessions.
Expecting the TMC leaders who are no longer in the same page as Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee to join Congress, senior leader Pradip Bhattacharya said that the party’s relaunch pads would be Murshidabad and Malda. It is true that our national leadership would decide on alliance with the Left, he said.
Time will come in near future when the Left will have to be with the people in their struggle against the bulldozer politics and divisive policies of the. BJP, a CPI(M) state committee leader said. As a secular force, the Congress will do well to join us, be added. The Left seems to be willing. One wonders whether Congress will walk the extra mile to join it. (IPA Service)
