In the wake of Tripura; The Left is being pushed to the margins. It must mobilise secular, democratic elements to fight Hindutva forces
Two clear conclusions emerge from the Tripura election verdict. First, it is exceedingly difficult for an Opposition party that has an incumbent government in any state to withstand the onslaught of the BJP. This party brings to the electoral arena the might of its Central government to buttress its own well-financed electoral effort.
True, the Manik Sarkar government had been crippled in its last term in office by a financial squeeze which had doubtless affected its performance, but this squeeze itself had been the result as much of the recommendations of successive Finance Commissions that had been grossly unfair to Tripura, as of the Centre’s wilful niggardliness.
By-elections where the BJP gets defeated, and even assembly elections in states where the BJP has been in power, either alone or in alliance, and where the popular wrath it has earned leads to an opposition party’s victory, such as in Punjab, cannot negate this fact. An opposition-ruled state government can scarcely survive the single-minded effort of the BJP with its immense resources, combined with the machinations of the central government it controls, to dislodge it from power through electoral means. Even apparently well-entrenched governments like those of Mamata Banerjee and Naveen Patnaik are vulnerable on this score notwithstanding their by-election successes.
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