'Left' in ruins...

It was furious red faced communists standing in the ruins of the rich left legacy on Wednesday as the verdict of West Bengal municipal elections made it clear that the change had arrived. Mamata’s second thumping victory within a year in the communist bastion has made it clear that the Left parties might well be in the twilight of their politics. And the West Bengal story is not just about that state, it is about a diminishing Left era in India. The communists have been ruling in the land of Tagore since the late 1970's and no party could break the record. May be, the Left lost the script, remained complacent or just refused to re-discover itself as it happened to communism elsewhere in the world. But the rout of the communist party may not portend well in the larger context of Indian polity. The communists were a great balancing force in the United Progressive Alliance, though they were considered an irritant who would always oppose everything progressive. It should not be forgotten that they played a vital role in making the National Rural Employment Guarantee programme a reality. The municipal election, which was seen as a semi final in West Bengal before the assembly elections next year, seems to have given Mamata Banerjee led Trinmool Congress a good chance to conquer the 'red fort' after more than three decades. The communist party, which was build on an anti-Congress theme decades later backed a Congress led government. Was this dilution in ideology or desperation to remain close to power that they lost, it is difficult to say.