A Left-Congress alliance is a win-win for both

The CPI-M should actually replicate the Tripura model everywhere else outside of Kerala. The alliance is here to stay, for now. (File image)

Following the Tripura election results, experts were united in writing obituaries for the Left-Congress alliance in the state after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) retained power, albeit with a smaller majority. The same day, a bypoll result from Sagardighi in West Bengal also made news, when the Congress candidate supported by the Left trumped the Trinamool Congress (and BJP) by a huge margin.

Back in 2021, when the Sanyukta Morcha (United Front) comprising the Left and the Congress got blanked in West Bengal, it had seemed that the alliance was on the verge of collapse. This byelection win, however, gives it a fresh lease of life.

For the Left, and particularly the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), its alliances with Congress in West Bengal and Tripura are very much existential. Except, the CPI-M and the Congress are at each other’s throats in Kerala – making it difficult for CPI-M to rationalise the alliance to Kerala voters.

More importantly, however, the CPI-M is bound by its resolutions in its Party Congress, which is why it sounds apologetic and perplexed about acknowledging it. No wonder the Prime Minister’s jibe on its political expediency gets the CPI-M’s goat.

Genesis In Bengal

It was in 2016 that the Left and the Congress first got together in West Bengal as a ‘Mahajot’ (Grand Alliance), buoyed by the experience of a ‘grand alliance’ in trumping the BJP in neighbouring Bihar six months prior to that. In defiance of the party’s official line which it had adopted in the (Prakash) Karat years, the West Bengal unit of the CPI-M had the blessings of Sitaram Yechury, who replaced Karat as general secretary.

In an anti-climax of sorts, however, the Left parties took a heavy toll even as the Congress managed to retain and marginally increase its seat tally from 42 to 44. The Kerala unit and the hawks in the CPI-M politburo dubbed the alliance a failure, with the Congress votes not getting transferred adequately to the Left.

The West Bengal unit, however, was optimistic about the alliance and, by the time the Hyderabad Party Congress got underway in 2018, the CPI-M had also lost its bastion of Tripura in a swift turn of events.

CPI-M’s Internal Tussle

The Hyderabad party congress essentially became a battleground for the proponents of the Yechury and Karat lines although it ended on a middle path of sorts, with the operative part being that “…the CPI-M cannot have a tactical line which treats the Congress and the BJP as equal dangers.”

The 2021 assembly elections heralded a renewed push for the alliance not only in West Bengal, but also in Assam where the Congress was essentially the big brother. Alas, the alliance came a cropper in both states even as the CPI-M retained Kerala defying all odds.

This was a shot in the arm for the hawks in the CPI-M. And so, at the Kannur Party Congress in 2022, the party amended its stand on the Congress with this bit: “…however, there cannot be a political alliance with the Congress party”. Come the Tripura election, however, its state unit was facing a wipeout and with the opposition space still up for grabs, it was adamant on joining hands with the Congress to try and mount a challenge to the BJP.

Tripura Experiment

A relook at the Tripura figures is imperative. Although the Left-Congress alliance polled six percent less than what the Left Front polled in 2018, the BJP is down 11 percent. These vote shares would indicate that the Congress votes got transferred and vice versa, with the defeat down to the emergence of the debutante Tipra Motha Party (TMP) polling 20 percent.

The existential nature of the alliance was also brought home by the bypoll win in next-door West Bengal, and it performed creditably even in Tripura, despite spot analyses suggesting otherwise.

The Wayanad Irritant

Notwithstanding the positives, the CPI-M – especially its Kerala unit – remains disingenuous about the alliance and continues to dub it an “understanding” or “seat arrangement”. While Left ideologues dub it so on account of the Party Congress resolution, it may not really be the case. It’s primarily down to Kerala politics, where the CPI-M’s main rival is the Congress, with anti-Congressism as its core.

There’s another important factor: And that is to do with Rahul Gandhi’s candidature in Wayanad in 2019, for which the CPI-M continues to blame the Congress. Poor optics apart, the CPI-M’s grouse is legitimate, given that Gandhi’s Wayand election had a ripple effect in the entire Malabar region, leaving it with a solitary seat in Alappuzha.

However, this time around, there are enough indications that Gandhi may not contest from Wayanad again, instead opting for a safe seat from a neighbouring state, thereby steering clear of a contest with the CPI-M.

Think National

Thus, it would make sense for the CPI-M, just as it would be of great utility to the Congress, to scale up the alliance to the national level. That would also ensure splitting of fewer votes – thereby increasing the Index of Opposition Unity (IOU) in many states, even helping the Left retain its pocket boroughs in the Hindi belt.

Coming back to Kerala, the people of the state are literate enough to understand the situation. Additionally, it might even help the CPI-M to claim that a vote for it tantamounts to a vote for the alliance at the national level.

Thus, rather than being coy about it, the CPI-M should actually replicate the Tripura model everywhere else outside of Kerala. The alliance is here to stay, for now.

Anand Kochukudy is a Kerala-based journalist and columnist. Views are personal and do not represent the stand of this publication.​