Left Parties Resurgence In Bihar Worries NDA In Lok Sabha Elections

By Arun Srivastava

After a epoch making victory in 2020 assembly election in Bihar, in which the CPI(ML) Liberation won 12 out of 16 it contested, the party is quite hopeful of sending its representatives to the Lok Sabha this time. In that election the three main Left parties had won 16 of the 29 assembly constituencies they contested. The CPI and CPI(M) annexed two each of the six and four seats they contested respectively.

Though the Left parties were partners of Mahagathbandhan headed by RJD.the reason of CPI(ML)-L nursing optimism in winning at least two seats emanates from the fact that in 2020 it had won fighting against RJD candidates in some constituencies notwithstanding being the constituent of Mahagathbandhan.

Though the RJD has been traditional support base of Muslims and Yadavs (MY), the CPIML) received the massive support of the poor Yadavs, Muslims and other extremely poor castes. It obviously implied that it enjoys the impeccable trust of this section of the poor.

This time the CPI(ML)-L had demanded at least six seats, but big brother of INDIA alliance Lalu Yadav was reluctant as he had some other commitment. The seats which the CPI(ML) had demanded were eventually handed over to the Congress. One of the seats was Purnea. Now Bima Bharati of RJD, who shifted her allegiance from JD(U) barely a week before the announcement of election, is facing a tough challenge from rebel Congress Pappu Yadav.

Nevertheless CPI(ML) was given three seats. It is contesting three Lok Sabha seats of Ara, Nalanda and Karakat. The CPI(ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya is confident of winning these seats. Baring Nalanda, the two other seats have witnessed massive peasant mobilisation by the CPI(ML) in early seventies. Ara the head quarter of Bhojpur has been the witness to the highest order of peasant armed struggle in which hundreds of cadres and leaders were involved.

A significant aspect of this year’s electoral battle is for the first time the CPI(ML) Liberation has entered into the fight. Though its senior leader Rameshwar Prasad had won the Ara Lok Sabha seat in 1989 he had contested as an Indian People’s Front candidate the mass organisation of the CPI(ML).at that time.

In Karakat, the CPI(ML) nominee former MLA Raja Ram Singh is pitted against former Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha, leader of Rashtriya Lok Morcha, an NDA ally. Moreover, the presence of an AIMIM candidate may result in dividing Muslim votes in the constituency.

Sudama Singh, an old timer, who started his career as a student leader in late sixties and is now an MLA from Ara is opposing the Union minister R K Singh, a former home secretary of Bihar from Ara parliamentary constituency. From Nalanda constituency, Sandeep Sourav, also an MLA, is in the fray. Nalada is the home constituency of chief minister Nitish Kumar. Senior party leader Rajaram Singh is contesting from Karakat Lok Sabha constituency. In all the three constituencies, Ara, Karakat and Nalanda, polling will take place on June 1.

Nevertheless Sourav is facing a serious challenge from Kaushlendra Kumar of JD(U). This area has high concentration of Koiri and Kurmis. Since Kumar is the candidate of Nitish Kumar it is expected that Nitish’s personal appeal will have impact. However a portion of constituency in seventies and eighties had witnessed incidents like Belchi and major peasant struggle, the appeal of the party is will have its impact.

Out of the five seats that RJD gave to Left Parties in Bihar under the seat sharing arrangements, CPI(M) has decided to field Sanjay Kumar Singh from Khagaria while CPI has given ticket to former MLA Awadhesh Rai from Begusarai. Bhattacharya is quite hopeful that both the parties will do nice with Singh posing a major challenge to NDA candidate at Khagaria.

CPI(M)’s Sanjay Kumar, who is from the OBC Kushwaha community, is banking on support from the Muslims and Yadavs, the RJD’s traditional M-Y vote bank. The CPI worked hard to outwit the BJP candidate Giriraj Singh, who launched vicious communal campaign and won back the seat of Begusarai which was once referred to as the “Leningrad of Bihar” because of its active Communist movement from the late 1950s to the late 1990s.

Khagaria went to the polls on May 7, in the third phase. Here the battle was between the Kumar and the Chirag Paswan’s LJP (Ram Vilas) candidate Rajesh Verma. Another factor that worked in favour of Kumar is Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) leader Mukesh Sahani extended support to him. He is now with Mahagathbandhan. Sahani is a Mallah leader.

Lalu denying desired number of seats to the Left bloc has been a tactical move. The CPI(ML) has risen as a major political force in the entire north and eastern parts of the state. Its success in 2020 assembly election underlines the fact that notwithstanding massive state repression it still continues to command the support and allegiance of the poor. Resurgence of CPI(ML) and the CPI and CPI(M) in a major way would have affected the image of the RJD in its traditional bases.

Yet another factor which prevented Lalu from acceding to Left’s demand to give them nine seats, has been the fear of shifting of Muslim votes. The Left has impeccable reputation of being the voice of dalit, poor and Muslims, especially the pasmanda, the poor and dalit Muslims.. One thing is categorically clear that the Left forces are going to resurrect as a major political force post Lok Sabha elections.. The Left has no presence in the present LokSabha from Bihar now. If the three parties CPI, CPI(M) and CPI(ML)–L can get three out of five seats they are contesting, that will impart a new dynamism to the left wing transformation of Bihar. (IPA Service)