"The party is mine. The party is yours. The party is not anyone's paternal property," read a placard at a protest rally of a few suspended Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M), leaders. At the rally in Kolkata, Subhonil Chowdhury, Prasenjit Bose and outspoken senior state leader Abdur Razzak Molla had hit the road to "revive" the party, which had shown them the door for voicing dissent.
The CPI(M) leadership dismissed the protest as mounted by "outsiders". However, days later, at the party's recently concluded two-day state-committee meeting attended by party general-secretary Prakash Karat, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and politburo member Sitaram Yechury, insiders, too, voiced similar dissent.
The series of poll debacles seen by the party, which hit its lowest point these Lok Sabha elections, has led to sections of the party seeking a change in leadership. Karat, along with West Bengal state secretary Biman Bose and former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, were at the receiving end of fierce criticism from many district leaders.
People in the know say state party leaders such as Amal Halder, Manab Mukhopadhay and Mainul Hasan sought a complete overhaul in the party on the organisational front, as well as a change in the top leadership. "Our top leaders are aged and unwell. They are not able to attend meetings. What is the point of having a handicapped leadership? Why not change the leadership? What can be worse for this party than this Lok Sabha poll outcome?" asked a state party leader.
In his address on the concluding day of the conclave, Karat shot down any such possibility, explaining a change in leadership following a poll debacle was a trend among "bourgeois parties". West Bengal state secretary Biman Bose, too, echoed the same sentiments. They were supported by a section of district leaders such as Abhas Chowdhudury, Ramchandra Dom and Pulinbihari Baske.
When asked about the call for a leadership change during the state committee meeting, Mohammad Salim, one of the two CPI(M) candidates to have won from West Bengal in the Lok Sabha polls, said, "Those who know the functioning of the Communist party are aware that issues such as change of leadership do not figure in state committee meetings."
Though Karat and Bose might have put up a brave face, sources say Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee remained silent on the issue. He was not only the target of a section of the district party leadership, his colleagues in the central committee and the politburo, too, questioned his public comments ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. Bhattacharjee had said to stop communal forces, the CPI(M) should be ready to do business with the Congress.
Deeply saddened by the words used at the meeting, the former chief minister is understood to have offered to quit all party posts, including those on the politburo and the state and central committees. However, the party reminded him "quitting posts" could not be his personal decision.
This perhaps signals the biggest challenge the party is facing - a leadership crisis. "The truth is Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee is still our only mass leader who has appeal across the state. The party has not been able to produce a mass leader in the state after Jyoti Basu and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee," said a senior CPI(M) leader.
Though many voices demanded a leadership change, hardly anyone proposed replacements at the meeting. However, the buzz doing the rounds was the party's South 24-Parganas secretary Sujan Chakraborty replacing 74-year-old Biman Bose as the party's organisational head.
The victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), under Narendra Modi, perhaps indicates the personality factor is becoming increasingly significant in winning elections in India; many believe in the recent Lok Sabha elections, people voted for Modi, not the BJP.
The CPI(M) is in dire need of a leader to pose a challenge to Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress in the state. Given Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's age, poor health and his reluctance, the party would rather bank on someone else. However, a leadership crisis is not something the party can address overnight.
To make matters worse for the CPI(M), the BJP is making strong inroads into West Bengal. In the recent Lok Sabha elections, the BJP tripled its vote share to about 17 per cent, compared to 2009. The Left's vote share not only dropped from 43 per cent in 2009 to 29 per cent, the party also stood third in half a dozen seats. After the Lok Sabha election results were announced, there have been reports of mass exodus of the party's local leaders and cadre members in rural Bengal; most have defected to the BJP.
"Now, Left politics has lost relevance. They cannot even pose a challenge to Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress in the state," says former Jalpaiguri CPI(M) district committee member Tapas Biswas, who has recently switched to the BJP.
With the red flags that ruled West Bengal for decades fast fading into saffron, the CPI(M) has very little time to put its house in order in the state.
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