By Tirthankar Mitra
KOLKATA: Munshi Premchand sold from makeshift bookstalls set by CPI(M) were in the news for the wrong reasons as quite a few of them were vandalized in Kolkata and the districts during Puja festival days. Yet the sale of books shot up like never before with the sales figure reaching up to Rs 1 crore according to party sources. This turns out to be a source of encouragement to a political outfit virtually marginalized in West Bengal.
Indeed the CPI(M) is represented by a single legislator in the state legislative Assembly. Md. Mustafijur Rahman MLA from Domkal in Murshidabad is the sole representative of the party. His victory was much rejoiced in the party circle as the CPI(M) was unrepresented in the previous term. But the jubilation is a pointer to the depth at which the CPI(M) ‘s popularity has dropped.
The TMC regime saw a shrinking of the CPI(M) mass base which political observers feel have shifted to the saffron camp. Some of the senior Left Front leaders feel that the 2026 Assembly elections witnessed the culmination of this shift leading to a landslide BJP victory. But throughout the TMC regime, the CPI(M) book stalls were telltale signs of its existence. In the BJP’s first year in West Bengal, the CPI(M) and the Left felt the full wrath of the saffron camp against their book stalls during Pujas.
Dominating Left Front for more than three decades the book stalls of the CPI(M) drew party faithful and fellow travellers in large numbers. It also attracted the footfall of some of the Opposition leaders like Sougata Roy who dropped in and bought books in a bid to find chinks in the ideological armour of a political opponent.
Though a 15-year long Trinamool Congress regime was marked by political acrimony with the CPI(M), the book stalls of the major front partner were in place. A regime change this summer threatened to upset the routine.
Neither chief minister Suvendu Adhikari nor the other BJP stalwarts made no secret of their apathy with the CPIM) ideology. This is one characteristic they shared with the previous Trinamool regime
But unlike the TMC dispensation, the resentment of the existing powers overflowed. It was chief minister Adhikari who called upon the puja organisers not to allow the bookstalls in red to be set up within the pandals unless they displayed the word “Durgotsav” with prominence on these stalls. The matter came up in court. But the CPI(M) did not get a favourable order.
But much before the court pronounced it’s final order, some of the book stalls were vandalized. The process continued evoking reaction from unexpected quarters. State finance minister, Swapan Dasgupta, a noted journalist and academic as well as Jishnu Basu, physicist and RSS ideologue were vocal in their condemnation of the incidents.
If the reaction of state BJP chief Samik Bhattacharya was not as sharp as Dasgupta who said his head drops in shame at these incidents, the former shared the latter’s sentiments. However, there is a marked lack of alacrity on part of the state administration to bring the vandals to book.
Meanwhile, the cup of joy of CPI(M) leaders and rank and file is spilling over. The high sale of books is a pointer to the interest of a large section of the people in the Left ideology, Sujan Chakraborty, CPI(M) central committee member said.
We certainly accept the people’s verdict, he said. But the fact remains that the people were caught in polarisation between TMC and BJP during the elections, he felt. The most sought after titles which sold like hot cakes were books on Marxist literature, contemporary politics. There was much interest among the Generation Z about these books.
The dropping in of TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh and state Congress chief Shuvankar Sarkar and buying books at Jadavpur stall which was a focal point of a confrontation stoked speculation of an undeclared political alliance. However, it was dismissed as straws in the wind by senior CPI(M) leaders.
The party faithful needed no lessons techniques in marketing as books were carried in vans to neighbourhoods in an endeavour called Duyare Bookstall. Taking books to the people’s doorsteps served dual purpose selling books and spreading mass contact.
Electoral decline has certainly set in given the election results. One wonders if the high sale of books is an indication of a turnaround in the coming civic elections. Yet the fact remains that electoral reverse has not translated into a decline in literature on Left ideology. The engagement with Left political. literature continues. (IPA Service)
