CPI(M) says TMC is melting faster than ice; hopes to take over the opposition space in West Bengal

CPI(M) leader Mohammed Salim said the Left parties and labor unions had already taken up the issue of displacement of shopkeepers who were evicted from several places after the BJP came to power in the state. File | Photo credit: The Hindu

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) says the Trinamool Congress (TMC) is “melting faster than ice” in this summer’s heat, hoping to take over opposition territory in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led West Bengal from the Mamata Banerjee-led party.

CPI(M) West Bengal general secretary Mohammed Salim claimed that the Left parties, especially the CPI(M), are already “in the forefront” in the fight against their ideological opponents, the RSS and the BJP, in the state.

“And now, with the Trinamool Congress melting faster than ice in this heat, our task now is not only theoretically but also practically to be the main opposition to the BJP in West Bengal,” Salim said.

“It is difficult but not impossible to restore the leftist ecosystem in West Bengal and become the forefront of people’s struggles for their democratic and constitutional rights,” he told PTI in an interview.

Mr. Salim claimed that not only his party but also the people of West Bengal hope that the CPI(M)-led Left Front will take over the opposition space in the state from the Trinamool Congress.

“More than a decade and a half of TMC’s terror tactics, using police and goons, created a vacuum where the TMC created favorable conditions for the RSS to thrive in the interior,” he said.

The CPI(M) has time and again accused the TMC and the BJP of creating a binary system between them using religion in politics to keep the Left and other opposition parties at bay in West Bengal.

Claiming that the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC was disintegrating after its electoral debacle in the recently held assembly elections, the CPI(M) leader said the Left parties would fill the opposition void.

TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee almost single-handedly ousted the Left Front from the seat of power in West Bengal after an uninterrupted 34-year rule, riding agitations against agricultural land acquisition in Singur and Nandigram.

Ironically, industrialisation, infrastructure and job creation were some of the key campaign themes for the 2026 assembly elections of both the Left and the BJP, along with law and order, women’s safety, ‘union paradise’ and extortion.

The CPI(M) leader said the Left parties and labor unions had already taken up the issue of displacement of hawkers who were evicted from several places after the BJP came to power in the state.

He accused the BJP of attacking the livelihood of the poorest of the poor. Mr. Salim said the CPI(M) would fight for issues like security of minorities and any imminent danger to West Bengal’s culture and people-to-people friendship.

The CPI(M)-led Left Front, which ruled West Bengal from 1977 to 2011, managed to break the electoral drought this time in the 2021 assembly elections, winning one constituency. The CPI(M) refuses to be bogged down by polling just 4.45% votes in the recently concluded parliamentary polls, according to Election Commission data.

None of the other Left Front voters managed to get even one percent of the vote in this election. CPI(M) won Domkal constituency in Murshidabad district while other Left Front voters could not open their account in this election.

The Left Front secured a 39% vote share in 2011, with the CPI(M) alone accounting for 30%. In the 2021 assembly elections, the CPI(M)’s vote share fell to just 4.73%. The Left Front, the Congress and the All India Students’ Federation (AISF) contested the 2021 polls under a seat-sharing agreement.

The Left Front formed an alliance with the All India Secular Front (AISF) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (CPI(ML)) for this election. The Congress, on the other hand, has decided to go it alone in all the 294 constituencies in West Bengal. While the Congress won two seats, the AISF retained the Bhangar constituency in this election.

Published – 23 May 2026 12:46 IST