We need a Mamata Banerjee, rues Bengal’s disappointed CPI(M)

Kolkata, April 29: The

leadership has understood that it has missed a golden opportunity to corner the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government in the state over the massive Ponzi scam which has recently rocked the state and even made an impact on the national politics.

The disappointment is so much so that a Politburo member of the party has even said that they needed a Mamata Banerjee-like leader who could lead the anti-incumbency wave and transform it into a major challenge for those in power, a report published in Anandabazaar Patrika said on Monday.

The CPI(M) leadership has admitted its failure to capitalise on the series of fiasco which the state has seen under the TMC government's time in recent times and is yet to fill up the political vacuum. The party knows that it is yet to undo the long legacy of 34 years and project an alternative to the Banerjee regime in front of the people.

The CPI(M), which is in the opposition now, has said that when the Left front was in power, Banerjee had put up a strong fight against it and reached out to the grassroots to consolidate the anti-Left voice. She sided with anybody who had suffered from the excesses committed by the then government and openly challenged to dethrone it, something which she could achieve in 2011, after losing two elections. But the CPI(M) doesn't have a leader like Banerjee who can openly challenge the latter's government now.

Although a section of the party's top leadership believes that it is not right to challenge Banerjee at the moment for it could further damage the CPI(M)'s image, but local leaders believe that the top leaders have become old and content and lack the teeth to take on Banerjee head on.

If Mamata Banerjee could fight for 27 long years as an Opposition leader since winning as an MP for the first time, why can't any CPI(M) leader do the same, many leaders in the party wonder. They feel the top leadership has done nothing apart from giving media bytes against Banerjee on the recent issues.

The top leadership, however, feels it will be suicidal to return to the violent opposition of the 1960s and 70s.

The CPI(M) is clearly a confused lot at the moment.

OneIndia News