Well folks Offstumped is back with a renewed sense of purpose for the Right of Centre cause. Mission 2006 at Offstumped is to maintain a razor sharp focus on the Communists and to beat them at their own game. The bugle has already been sounded in West Bengal. More on that later but first things first. On a positive note, Hindustan Times carried an interesting biographical piece on Pramod Mahajan titled “Not a Normal Type” http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1598108,00120003.htm Kumkum Chadha shed a refreshing new light on lesser known aspects of his life exploding the myth of a stereotype politician. His lifestyle apart Offstumped renews its challenge to Pramod Mahajan to step up and demonstrate a vision for the Right of Center Agenda. On a negative note, Pankaj Vohra of the Hindustan Times in his latest piece on the upcoming Congress AICC plenary in Hyderabad http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1599546,00120002.htm confirmed that he is a Congress Hack. Pankaj Vohra you have been Offstumped once again, why not come clean and go public on your political leanings rather than maintain this pretense.
Returning to the subject of this post, TVR Shenoy in a recent column on Rediff.com titled “End of the road for the CPI” http://ia.rediff.com/news/2006/jan/12flip.htm highlighted some lesser known facts about the political reality in West Bengal and the outlook for the Communists, while the specific focus of his column was the CPI the broader message was that the paucity of choice is likely to ensure the leftist stranglehold on West Bengal. Be that is it may, TVR Shenoy’s point on the electoral decimation of CPI brings up an important question. The irony of the 2004 General Elections apart from the debacle of NDA and the unexpected rise of UPA was the undue leverage the Communists gained on National Politics. Communists who have no respectable presence but for 2 states have today usurped by default the moral and political authority to set the tone and tenor of the political debate through their remote control of the central government. Contrast this now with what TVR Shenoy has to say about the Communist Party of India, CPI
“In the West Bengal assembly polls of 2001, the BJP won 5.19% of the total votes cast where the CPI got only 1.79%. How on earth could such a thing be possible? “
“The CPI was not alone, it was fighting as part of the Left Front coalition led by the CPI-M. Even worse, not only was it left in the dust by the CPI-M, even the Forward Bloc and the Revolutionary Socialist Party garnered a larger share of votes (5.65% and 3.43% respectively). In other words, had the CPI gone it alone as the BJP did it would certainly have fared even worse than the actual situation. “
“it barely registers on the radar even in its old stronghold of West Bengal, and has been all but wiped out elsewhere? Will there be anything left of the party once the next assembly election in West Bengal and Kerala are over? “
Well clearly the inchorent and mostly irrelevant decibel diatribes from the D Rajas and the AB Bardhans have been given far too much credibility and prominence by our naive mainstream media.
Coming to the larger question of the Communist Stranglehold on the National Political Agenda. With their bastions in West Bengal and Kerala secure the Communists will continue to wield undue influence on the central government. Unless the battle is taken to their home turf and the communists are beaten at their own game, our beloved nation will never be rid of the communist scourge.
TVR Shenoy may have already thrown in the towel on this one, but Offstumped is not giving in yet. Watch this space as Offstumped sounds the bugle on the battle for West Bengal and Kerala.
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