Communist Party of India (Marxist), West Bengal

Last updated
Communist Party of India (Marxist), West Bengal
Secretary Md. Salim
Headquarters Kolkata
Student wing Students Federation (SFI West Bengal)
Youth wing Democratic Youth Federation (DYFI West Bengal)
Women's wing Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA West Bengal)
Labour wing Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU West Bengal)
Membership1,60,827 (2021)
Ideology Communism
Marxism-Leninism
Political position Left-wing [1]
Alliance Left Front
Secular Democratic Alliance
Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance
Seats in  Lok Sabha
0 / 42
(West Bengal)
Seats in  Rajya Sabha
1 / 16
(West Bengal)
Seats in  West Bengal Legislative Assembly
0 / 294
Election symbol
CPI(M) election symbol - Hammer Sickle and Star.svg
Party flag
CPI-M-flag.svg
Website
cpimwb.org.in

The Communist Party of India (Marxist), West Bengal is the West Bengal state wing of Communist Party of India (Marxist) and a recognised national party. The party has been the longest formally the governing party in West Bengal Legislative Assembly from 1977 to 2011 and has significant representation of the state in Rajya Sabha. [2] It leads the Left Front and Secular Democratic Alliance along with Indian National Congress.

Contents

History

Formation of CPI(M)

In the following period the Communist Party underwent a vertical a split in the Communist Party of India in 1964 with a section of the party including Jyoti Basu going on to form the Communist Party of India (Marxist). There were several ongoing ideological conflicts between sections within the Communist Party about the nature of the Indian State and the characterisation and method of interaction with the Indian National Congress, about the approach towards the ongoing debate between the Soviet Union and China and with regards to the handling of the border disputes between India and China.

Jyoti Basu, B. T. Ranadive, Samar Mukherjee, Makineni Basavapunnaiah and Hare Krishna Konar in Brigade Borsul A.I.K.S. Conferance (36).jpg
Jyoti Basu, B. T. Ranadive, Samar Mukherjee, Makineni Basavapunnaiah and Hare Krishna Konar in Brigade

These debates were further exacerbated by the food movement in West Bengal and brought to the forefront by the rising border tensions between India and China. [3] The Communist Party had also become the second largest party in the Lok Sabha following the 1962 Indian general election with nearly 10% vote share which is described to have brought prominence to the internal divisions of the party. [4]

In the West Bengal Legislative Assembly election of 1967, fourteen opposition parties contested through two pre-poll political alliances; [5] the CPI-M led United Left Front and the CPI and Bangla Congress (splinter of the Congress party formed in 1966) led People's United Left Front. [6] The CPI-M became the second largest party outstripping its former party, the CPI.

Basu Era (1977-2000)

For the 1977 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, negotiations between the Janata Party and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) broke down. [7] This led to a three sided contest between the Indian National Congress, the Janata Party and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) led Left Front coalition. The results of the election was a surprising sweep for the Left Front winning 230 seats out of 290 with the CPI-M winning an absolute majority on its own, Jyoti Basu became the chief minister of West Bengal.

Jyoti Basu, during the inaugural ceremony of Science City, Kolkata Jyoti Basu Addresses - Convention Centre Inaugural Ceremony - Science City - Calcutta 1996-12-21 093.tif
Jyoti Basu, during the inaugural ceremony of Science City, Kolkata
Vladimir Lenin statue in Kolkata Lenin-statue-in-Kolkata.jpg
Vladimir Lenin statue in Kolkata

The state saw rapid developments in this period, with the Land Reforms and the Panchayat System being two of the many notable ones. In this time, the state had become one of the leaders in agricultural output, being the leading producer of rice and the second leading producer of potatoes. [8] In the first term of the coming to power, the Left Front government under Basu initiated a number of agrarian and institutional reforms which resulted in reduction of poverty rates, an exponential rise in agricultural production and decrease in political polarisation. [9] [10] [11] It also enabled the large scale adoption of technological advancements which had earlier been brought in through the Green Revolution in India in the 1960s. [9] [10] The agricultural growth jumped from an annual average of 0.6% between 1970–1980 to over 7% between 1980–1990 and the state was described as an agricultural success story of the 1980s. [10] [12] During this period, the state of West Bengal moved from being a food importer to a food exporter and became the largest producer of rice outstripping the states of Andhra Pradesh and Punjab which had previously held the status. [12] The Human Development Index was also noted to have improved at a much faster rate than in other states, growing from being the lowest in the country in 1975 to above the national average in 1990. [13]

Buddhadeb Era (2000-2011)

The Chief Minister of West Bengal Shri Buddhadev Bhattacharya felicitating legendary footballer Shri Sailen Manna during the inauguration of the ONGC Cup 10th National Football League Tournament at Yuba Bharati Krirangan in The Chief Minister of West Bengal Shri Buddhadev Bhattacharya felicitating legendary footballer Shri Sailen Manna during the inauguration of the ONGC Cup 10th National Football League Tournament at Yuba Bharati Krirangan in.jpg
The Chief Minister of West Bengal Shri Buddhadev Bhattacharya felicitating legendary footballer Shri Sailen Manna during the inauguration of the ONGC Cup 10th National Football League Tournament at Yuba Bharati Krirangan in

In 2000, Jyoti Basu resigned as the chief minister. He was succeeded by Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. [14] Unlike other orthodox leaders, Buddhadeb was more open to market and technological reforms. He attempted to industrialize West Bengal by bringing a Tata motors plant in Singur but this erupted a huge controversy. Buddhadeb's government forcefully evicted farmers in the land, which sparked huge protests. Later Tata Group ultimately backed out of the project. There was also violence in Nandigram as well, in which many protesters died due to police firing. [15]

Violence, economic stagnation, the surge of Mamata Banerjee and her TMC led to the decline of support of Buddhadeb and the CPI(M), even among the core voters like peasants and workers. A demand for change started, which eventually led to the fall of the 34-years long Left Front government in 2011.

Out of power and decline (2011-Present)

Structure and composition

Jyoti Basu, longest serving chief minister of West Bengal Jyoti Basu 006 (cropped).jpg
Jyoti Basu, longest serving chief minister of West Bengal

List of state secretaries

NoPortraitSecretaryTermTotal years as secretary
1 Promode Dasgupta 1964 - 198218 Years
2 Saroj Mukherjee.jpg Saroj Mukherjee 1982 - 19908 Years
3 No image available.svg Sailen Dasgupta1991 – 19987 Years
4 Anil Biswas 1998 - 20068 Years
5 No image available.svg Biman Bose 2006 - 20159 Years
6 Dr. Surjya Kanta Mishra at a meeting to assess implementation of safe drinking water, rural sanitation and NREGA schemes, in Kolkata on June 01, 2007.jpg Surjya Kanta Mishra 2015 - 20227 Years
7 AXfLSVpW 400x400.jpg Mohammed Salim 2022–presentIncumbent

Current state committee members

NoSecretary
1 Mohammed Salim
2 Sujan Chakraborty
3 Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya
4 Samik Lahiri
5 Deblina Hembram
6 Pulin Bihari Baske
7 Saman Pathak
8 Anwarul Haque
9 Goutam Ghosh
10 Shyamali Pradhan
11 Alakesh Das
12 Minakshi Mukherjee
13 Sushanta Ghosh
14 Pradip Sarkar
15 Shaikh Ibrahim
16 Shatarup Ghosh
17 Srijan Bhattacharyya
18 Amiya Patra
19 Ram Chandra Dome
20 Abhas Roy Choudhury
21 Anadi Sahoo
22 Kallol Majumdar
23 Sumit De
24 Palash Das
25 Amal Halder
26 Sukhendu Panigrahi
27 Jibesh Sarkar
28 Debasish Chakrabarty
29 Rama Biswas
30 Achintya Mallick

List of Chief Minister's from CPI(M) in West Bengal

No.NamePortraitTerm of officeDays in office
1 Jyoti Basu Jyoti Basu - Calcutta 1996-12-21 089 Cropped.png 21 June 197723 May 198223 years 137 days
24 May 198229 March 1987
30 March 198718 June 1991
19 June 199115 May 1996
16 May 19965 November 2000
2 Buddhadeb Bhattacharya Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in 2006.jpg 6 November 200014 May 200110 years 188 days
15 May 200117 May 2006
18 May 200613 May 2011

Results in West Bengal State Assembly elections

Election YearParty leaderOverall votes % of overall votesTotal seatsseats won/
seats contensted
+/- in seats+/- in vote shareSitting side
As Communist Party of India (Marxist)
1967
Jyoti Basu 2,293,02618.11%280
43 / 135
newnewOpposition
1969
2,676,98120.00%280
80 / 190
Increase2.svg 37Increase2.svg 1.9%Opposition
1971
N/A27.45%294
113 / 200
Increase2.svg 33N/AOpposition
1972
5,080,82827.45%294
14 / 209
Decrease2.svg 99N/AOpposition
1977
5,080,82835.46%294
178 / 224
Increase2.svg 164Increase2.svg 8.01Government
1982
8,655,37138.49%294
174 / 209
Decrease2.svg 4Increase2.svg 3.03Government
1987
10,285,72339.12%294
187 / 212
Increase2.svg 13Increase2.svg 0.89Government
1991
11,418,82236.87%294
182 / 204
Increase2.svg 2Decrease2.svg 2.43Government
1996
13,670,19837.16%294
153 / 213
Decrease2.svg 32Increase2.svg 1.05Government
2001
Buddhadeb Bhattacharya 13,402,60336.59%294
143 / 211
Decrease2.svg 14Decrease2.svg 1.33Government
2006
14,652,20037.13%294
176 / 212
Increase2.svg 33Increase2.svg 0.54Government
2011
14,330,06130.08%294
40 / 213
Decrease2.svg 136Decrease2.svg 7.05Opposition
2016
Surjya Kanta Mishra 10,802,05819.75%294
26 / 148
Decrease2.svg 14Decrease2.svg 10.35Opposition
2021
2,837,2764.73%294
0 / 136
Decrease2.svg 26Decrease2.svg 15.02

Results of Indian general elections in West Bengal

Election YearOverall Votes % of overall votesTotal seatsSeats won/
Seats contested
+/- in seats+/- in vote share
As Communist Party of India (Marxist)
1967 2,012,52215.6 %40
5 / 16
NewNew
1971 4,485,10534.3 %
20 / 38
Increase2.svg 15Increase2.svg 18.7
1977 3,839,09126.1 %42
17 / 20
Decrease2.svg 3Decrease2.svg 8.2%
1980 8,199,92639.9 %
28 / 31
Increase2.svg 11Increase2.svg 13.8%
1984 9,119,54635.9 %
18 / 31
Decrease2.svg 10Decrease2.svg 4%
1989 12,150,01738.4 %
27 / 31
Increase2.svg 9Increase2.svg 2.5%
1991 10,934,58335.2 %
27 / 30
Steady2.svgDecrease2.svg 3.2%
1996 13,467,52236.7 %
23 / 31
Decrease2.svg 4Increase2.svg 1.5%
1998 12,931,63935.4 %
24 / 32
Increase2.svg 1Decrease2.svg 1.3%
1999 12,553,99135.6 %
21 / 32
Decrease2.svg 3Increase2.svg 0.2%
2004 14,271,04238.6%
26 / 32
Increase2.svg 5Increase2.svg 3.0%
2009 14,144,66733.1 %
9 / 32
Decrease2.svg 17Decrease2.svg 5.5%
2014 11,720,99723.0%
2 / 32
Decrease2.svg 7Decrease2.svg 10.1%
2019 3,594,2836.3 %
0 / 31
Decrease2.svg 2Decrease2.svg 16.7%
2024

CPI(M) in West Bengal Municipal Corporations

CorporationElection YearSeats won/
Total seats
Per. of votesSitting side
Asansol Municipal Corporation 2022
2 / 106
1.89%Opposition
Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation 2022
0 / 41
10.95%
Chandernagore Municipal Corporation 2022
2 / 33
26.40%Main Opposition
Howrah Municipal Corporation 2013
2 / 66
N/AOpposition
Kolkata Municipal Corporation 2021
1 / 144
9.65%Opposition
Siliguri Municipal Corporation 2022
4 / 47
14.41%Opposition

CPI(M) in West Bengal Local Elections

Election YearGram Panchayats wonPanchayat SamitisZilla ParishadsPer. of votes
2018
1,483 / 63,229
110 / 9,730
1 / 928
6%
2023
3,242 / 63,229
196 / 9,730
2 / 928
14%

See also

Related Research Articles

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