With the Trinamool Congress, which ruled West Bengal for the past 15 years, continuing to implode following its defeat in the recent Assembly election, the Left Front and the Congress see an opportunity to regain a foothold in the State. Before Mamata Banerjee’s party established itself as the main opposition in the 2001 election, West Bengal politics after Independence was essentially a contest between the Left and the Congress. The Congress dominated the State (except for two brief terms in 1967 and 1969) until the Left swept to power in 1977 and went on to rule for 34 years.
The emergence of the Trinamool, first as the main opposition and then as the ruling party (2011–26), completely changed political equations in the State. After losing its position as the principal opposition party, the Congress quickly faded into oblivion, retaining only a few pockets of influence.
The Left met a similar fate after losing power in 2011. A joint effort with the Congress to overthrow the Trinamool in 2016 failed, and the CPI(M), like its old adversary, began its seemingly inexorable march into the political wilderness.
The nature of the Trinamool’s Left-oriented politics, its innumerable welfare schemes, and its opposition to the BJP at the Centre allowed the party to quickly take over the political and ideological space of the Left and the Congress. And the saffron party took the place of the main opposition in the 2019 general election, as the Left and the Congress found themselves more marginalised than ever in the face of the Trinamool-BJP binary and the growing communalisation of politics. They could neither keep their organisation together nor hold on to their voters.
The 2026 Assembly election results showed the once seemingly invincible CPI(M)’s vote share falling to 4.45 per cent, and the Congress’ to a mere 2.97 per cent—the lowest for both. The Left could win only 1 seat (out of 294) and the Congress 2, which was still an improvement over their 2021 performance. Both parties drew a blank in the previous Assembly election, in spite of joining forces in a seat-sharing arrangement.
The Trinamool Congress implosion
After the 2026 election, the situation has again changed dramatically. Not only is the Trinamool out of power, it is also being dismantled by factionalism and defections and is barely able to carry out the basic functions of an opposition party. With the Trinamool legislative party splitting into two factions, Mamata seems on the verge of losing the party she founded on January 1, 1998. The faction under Ritabrata Banerjee is the majority group in the Assembly. Rather than taking on the BJP, these two factions, which together account for 80 legislators, are busy fighting each other.
The parliamentary party has also split, with 20 of the 28 Lok Sabha MPs and 3 Rajya Sabha MPs joining the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance at the Centre. Moreover, with the 64 MLAs in the Ritabrata faction going particularly soft on the ruling party in the Assembly, there is little to check the BJP’s sway either in the Assembly or outside. It is precisely this opposition-less scenario that both the CPI(M) and the Congress are trying to capitalise on.
The CPI(M) wasted no time in hitting the streets to protest against the new government’s policies. The two most powerful wings of the party—the Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU) and the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS)—have shown clear signs of awakening from their hibernation of a decade and a half. The CITU swung into action when the BJP government, true to its electoral promise, began to tear down illegal constructions on government land almost immediately after coming to power, using bulldozers to evict hawkers and demolish homesteads that had been standing for more than five decades.
Security forces charge protesters with batons at the July 24 rally in Kolkata. The fierce crackdown seemed to betray the new regime’s nervousness.
| Photo Credit:
PTI
The Left presented the main face of resistance, challenging the government for not providing rehabilitation to those whose houses were destroyed or an alternative source of earning for the hawkers. They hit the streets, stood by the side of the victims, and set up community kitchens and centres of assistance.
Gargi Chatterjee, the CITU’s North 24 Parganas district secretary, asserted that right now it is the CPI(M) that is putting up a real fight against the BJP government both at the Centre and in the State. Chatterjee, who has been at the forefront of anti-bulldozer protests, told Frontline: “No party has lost its popularity so soon after coming to power as the BJP has here. People are looking to the Left to take them on. Today, the CPI(M) is on the streets with the issues of the people: be it forced eviction, bulldozer action, removal of eggs from midday meals, plight of contract labourers, the anti-goonda law [the newly passed Public Safety and Control of Anti-Social Activities Act], the issue of ethanol in petrol, names illegally removed in the SIR [Special Intensive Revision], panchayats lying in disuse. We are taking up every issue where the government is slipping.”
Speaking of the Left’s presence in the massive rally in Kolkata on July 24 in support of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) agitation in Delhi, Chatterjee said: “I have not seen such a huge rally in my life; Left student bodies flooded the streets.”
Interestingly, the CPI(M) in its weakened and much reduced state is going back to its primary strategy of connecting with the masses through quiet little movements. At the rural grassroots, the AIKS has been reaching out to people and making its presence felt.
AIKS State secretary, Amal Haldar, told Frontline: “We have realised that massive rallies are not enough. We have to go to the base and start building up the movement from there, and that is exactly what we are doing. We are strengthening our movement in the villages: holding village conferences and rallies and just letting people know we are there for them. We are organising movements for the potato crisis in the State, and we will organise such movements for every crop crisis. Already a huge number of people are joining our ranks.”
Haldar pointed out that in the 2026 election, many Left supporters voted for the BJP solely to get rid of the Trinamool government. “These people voted against the Trinamool, not for Hindutva. Now that the Trinamool is out, they realise that to get rid of the thief, they have opened the door to dacoits. We are waiting for them to return to us.”
A growing number of young people also seem to be drawn to the Left and are visible in rallies and protest marches. The CPI(M) activist Jinia Guha, 31, explained that the agitations are not restricted to sociopolitical issues. “After the election, the Left movement in the State has been reorganising. We are taking up issues relating to ecology, culture, and attempts to subvert democracy; we are doing this on a daily basis in localities and neighbourhoods. We don’t necessarily carry banners all the time; we are there in citizens’ movements, not as the CPI(M) but as ordinary citizens.”
As the psephologist Biswanath Chakraborty pointed out, the Trinamool may technically be the main opposition in the Assembly, but the CPI(M) is conducting the fight against the BJP on the streets. “An ideological struggle is now imminent,” said Chakraborty.
Grand Old Party on a roll?
The Congress may not be as visible as the CPI(M) on the ground, but things nevertheless seem to be looking up for the Grand Old Party.
Its Martyrs’ Day programme on July 21, commemorating 13 Youth Congress workers who died in police firing at a political demonstration in Kolkata in 1993, was an eye-opener. For the first time in many years, the party was able to pull off a mass programme. The large turnout surprised even sections of its own leadership. They had worked hard to make the event—for long monopolised by the Trinamool—a success by reaching out to supporters in the districts and mobilising workers.
“Earlier the event used to be restricted to the various party offices in the State. This time we thought of holding a public rally, and we were delighted with the turnout. We believe at least 20,000 people attended the event,” Roahan Mitra, co-chairperson of the media and publicity department of the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee, told Frontline.
The large turnout at the Congress’ Martyrs’ Day programme on July 21, which commemorates the death of 13 Youth Congress workers in police firing during a demonstration in 1993, surprised many.
| Photo Credit:
PTI
The Congress is showing signs of revival in its erstwhile strongholds, including the minority-dominated districts of Murshidabad, Malda, and Uttar Dinajpur. “There are already a number of gram panchayats that have shifted their allegiance to the Congress in these districts, and there is a perceptible shift towards the Congress in minority areas. In the coming days, we should not be surprised if some of the secular-minded MPs who are still with Mamata shift to the Congress if she continues to support her nephew Abhishek Banerjee at the helm of the party,” said Biswanath Chakraborty.
The senior Congress leader Amitabha Chakraborty believes the Congress must now work towards expanding its base. “We are assessing where we stand. Before anything else, we need to build up our organisational strength,” he told Frontline.
Congress must bulk up rank and file
With a vote share of less than 3 per cent and a dwindling party base, the Congress is acutely aware of the need to bulk up its rank and file. While party leaders claim that Trinamool workers from across the State have been approaching them with requests to be taken in, the complaints of the people against these leaders are acting as a deterrent. “We need more workers right now, but we are also apprehensive of accepting all those coming from the Trinamool. But at some point, we will have to let everyone in and hope that time will heal all wounds,” said a senior Congress source.
With both the Left and the Congress trying to stage a comeback, there is speculation on prospects for a tie-up. While a section of leaders from both camps, like the senior CPI(M) stalwart from north Bengal Ashok Bhattacharya, believe the two ought to view each other as natural allies in the present situation, others advise caution. Previous attempts at joining forces during elections did not yield the desired results.
There is a view in both parties that strengthening their party organisations should be the priority now. The senior Congress leader Sujoy Ghatak said: “First let us successfully stage a turnaround. In all the previous tie-ups, the CPI(M) dominated the alliance. Even now, during the massive rally in support of the CJP, the Congress was present, but all that people saw were the red Left flags. Even here there was an attempt to dominate the movement.”
It is still early days, and the Left and the Congress have a long way to go before they can be considered a force in Bengal politics. Yet, their show of strength in the massive CJP march in Kolkata was a warning to the new BJP government that opposition forces are gathering momentum. The new government’s knee-jerk reaction of a ruthless crackdown on protesters may be interpreted as a sign of nervousness.
However, there is little scope for complacency. “The stage is ready,” said the veteran political analyst Biswajit Bhattacharya, “but the actors need to be ready for the performance. As of now, the main crisis in both parties is the absence of any talismanic leader. It is primarily because of this absence that a sizeable section of the Left votes have gone to the BJP, particularly from the urban middle class. This section has already become saffronised and might not be easy to win back.”
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