Left-Congress' one-election stand in West Bengal had to fail
Now that the alliance between the Left and the Congress in West Bengal did not work out, the best take of the day was a piece of combo-exhibit, showcased on the entrance to Didi's residence: a ramshackle SUV, decked with black flags and a poster, announcing the untimely demise of the Jot (alliance).
"We are deeply saddened at the death of Jot at such a tender age," the poster read. Smiling on top of the exhibit was Mamata Banerjee's profile on a huge hoarding. The hoarding was a humble acknowledgement of the love and blessings "Ma-Maati-Manush" had showered on her in the elections.
It was indeed death at a tender age for the Left-Congress alliance. While all kinds of names are doing the rounds to describe this relationship - unholy, unethical, illegitimate and so on, a friend close to the political developments called it a "one-election stand", on the lines of a one-night stand.
It was at best the coming together of two bed partners, with diverse ideology, different temperaments, different appetite but with one common intention: making their common enemy go green, see red, feel insecure and finally leave the field, lost.
They may have partly succeeded in making their bete noire, Mamata see green, red and black - a rainbow combination against her, but she not only won, but won with a vote share of 45 per cent - the highest ever, secured by an individual party over the last 40 years in West Bengal. And that was the end of the bed partners, or Jot partners, who were posing a show of camaraderie by hugging each other and even sharing the same garland, as did Rahul Gandhi and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee at the Park Circus rally in Kolkata.
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| Left Front chairman Biman Bose was against the alliance from the very beginning. |
The partners were vowing to be adventurous, ambitious and do big things together: oust the incumbent government, jointly rule West Bengal, without caring for ideology, and go beyond the election and pull it through to the 2019 general elections.
Sadly, within a fortnight after the honeymoon period of the polls, with the reality of the results staring at the face, the partners are engaged in a blame game and are washing their dirty linen in public.
While the Left leaders blamed their Congress counterparts for failing to transfer the party's votes in favour of the Left, the Congressmen on their part also doubted their partner's role and intent in mobilising people's support for them.
A Congress leader said that the alliance was destined to flop because Left Front chairman, Biman Bose, from day one had expressed displeasure over the tie-up saying it was a "ghot", a ganging-up.
Bose, known for his contacts with the grassroot, perhaps had felt that conservative and rigid Left supporters won't feel at ease to befriend the Congress and staunch Congress supporters, who were at the receiving end of the 34 years of Left regime, wouldn't be able to shrug off their angst so easily.
Now, Surjya Kanta Mishra and MP, Mohammed Salim, are engaged in a spat over the cause and result of the alliance, but a few weeks ago they were eager to hold hands with the Congress leaders. The result of the one-election stand was bitter and so the partners parted ways.