Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief and former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has responded positively to the Left parties’ outreach for wider Opposition cooperation, CPI(M) general secretary MA Baby told The Federal. The Left is looking to build the broadest possible alliance against the ruling NDA on the issue at hand.
“When we wrote to the TMC, Mamata Banerjee got back to us with a reply and followed it up with a phone call. She was very positive,” Baby said.
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The Left parties’ outreach comes amid the growing Opposition campaign against the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Following an investigative report published by the Indian Expresssaying there was dissent withing the EC over the SIR process, Opposition parties have raised concerns over the deletion and verification of voters, with several parties questioning the manner in which the exercise is being conducted and demanding greater transparency in the process.
The issue has also brought together parties that do not necessarily share the same political space or have a history of cooperation in the states.
Issue-based outreach
Speaking to The Federal on the phone, Baby stressed that the outreach is currently issue-based and it is too early to say whether it will lead to any broader political understanding with the TMC.
“This is, as of now, issue-based. We cannot say what will happen in the future,” Baby said when asked whether the Left parties’ initiative could lead to a political handshake with the TMC.
The CPI(M) leader further said the developments should not be viewed merely as an initiative of his party, but as part of a broader effort by the Left parties to unite Opposition forces against the NDA.
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“The Left parties now see that the situation demands INDIA-plus unity. It is not just about the CPI(M). It is about the decisions of all the Left parties,” he said.
INDIA-plus push
After a meeting of the Left parties, Baby said, letters were sent to all non-NDA parties seeking their cooperation. The outreach also extended beyond the INDIA bloc, with the Left writing to parties such as the Biju Janata Dal and Joseph Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK).
“This is a situation that demands larger cooperation between Opposition parties,” Baby said.
The initiative has also led to the Left renewing contacts with political forces with which it has had limited or no recent cooperation. In West Bengal, the Left has been working with the Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI), a relationship that Baby said had not been maintained for several years.
September 28 protest
The Left parties are preparing to launch protests from September 28. The state units will decide the form of the protests and which parties or organisations will be associated with them, Baby said.
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“As of now, we are aiming for the largest possible Opposition alliance against the issue,” he said.
The outreach comes amid efforts by the Left to coordinate with a wider range of Opposition parties, suggesting that the immediate political objective is to build issue-based cooperation even among parties that have sharp differences with one another at the state level.
Bigger political question
Baby’s remarks also indicate that the Left is keeping the scope of the initiative deliberately open. While the immediate focus is on bringing together as many non-NDA parties as possible for the proposed protests, the question of whether such cooperation could evolve into a broader political arrangement remains open.