No free lunch for CPM cadre in Bengal

KOLKATA: Bengal's Left-leaning cadres, once pampered with free food packets when they arrived in droves for party-organised protests, have a different taste of things in the Mamata era. The CPM's peasants' wing has instructed its men to carry along adequate food when they gather on May 22 to force a formidable chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, to accept their charter of demand.

Around 11 Left-leaning farmers' wings, who are expected to gherao the state administrative headquarters of Nabanna, do not expect a smooth sailing.

“We know Mamata Banerjee's government might not meet our representatives and allow us to reach Nabanna on May 22 to place our charter of demands before her government. We also feel that in such a situation we may have to prolong our agitation and stay on the streets. We have, therefore, asked our activists who will be coming from the districts to bring with them adequate food (handmade rotis and molasses) and get ready to stay on the streets on May 22 night,“ Nripen Chowdhury , secretary of the Paschimbanga Pradeshik Krishak Sabha, told ET.

Such an instruction by the leadership of CPM's peasants' wing clearly indicates that the heydays of the Marxists have gone. Never before in its 34-year regime, has the CPM leadership issued such a whip to its cadres.

The party used to hold huge rallies at the Brigade Parade Grounds, the largest venue for holding any political gathering, almost every year.Party cadres from the districts used to come to Kolkata from districts and food packets were supplied to them by the leadership.

But the May 22 Nabanna agitation is being held at a time when the Marxists, who are out of power, are suffering from an acute financial crisis.