The faded hammer-and-sickle signs hand-drawn on the weather-worn red flags and walls are now hard to spot in Kolkata streets, unlike the past.
Despite having held power in West Bengal for seven consecutive terms, from 1977 to 2011, and giving the world the "Longest running Chief Minister Of a democracy" - Mr. Jyoti Basu, today’s Left Front is hardly a force worthy of notice in the state and is fighting to stay relevant in India. The constituent parties have been reduced to single digits in Parliament, and have lost all their traditional bastions except Kerala and a few university campuses.
At the start of their political journey in the '60s, the impact of the Left was very high in India, especially in Bengal. Over the years, it has gone down with ideological bankruptcy. More than utilising Marxism and Leninism, leaders were attracted towards power.”