Migrant worker Mansoor, 35, walked for 23 days to reach his home in East Burdwan from his workplace in Gujarat when the Centre had clamped a nationwide lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

More than three years later, Mansoor walked again. This time, he walked in the DYFI's "Insaaf Yatra (march for justice)" from the hills to the plains of Bengal for 50 days to fight the “communal BJP” and “corrupt Trinamul” while demanding jobs for youths and the right to education for students in the state.

The Insaaf Yatra concluded on its 50th day at Jadavpur in Calcutta on Friday after touching 22 districts in the state since it kicked off from Coochbehar on November 3.

“We have walked over 2,200km in these 50 days. We did not follow a linear path and spent more than a day in each district, including seven days each in East Burdwan and Murshidabad. In Murshidabad, we covered almost 300km. We walked for around 50km a day for at least 11 hours daily with breaks for lunch and occasional stops to reciprocate the spontaneity of the people who used to turn up to show their overwhelming support and share their complaints with the marchers,” said DYFI leader Kalatan Dasgupta.

Though the Insaaf Yatra had the stamp of the CPM’s organizational apparatus written all over it, a senior CPM leader said to do it for 50 days continuously and even in those areas where the organizational structure is almost non-existence should be counted as a gain.

“Indeed, it was an organized political programme but that youths led by DYFI state secretary Minakshi Mukherjee and her comrades could overcome hurdles put in the way of the yatra by the police and the administration is in itself a positive outcome for the CPM in the run-up to the 2024 polls and beyond,” said the East Burdwan district secretariat member Apurba Chatterjee.

Referring to the spontaneity that the long march attracted, Dasgupta said while moving through rural Bengal the marchers saw farmers come forward to convey their agony about the lack of government support for them while in urban areas gig workers narrated their pains and joined the yatra.

“Agriculture is under severe stress, there is a lack of jobs everywhere, much of the rural populace is taking the migrant route to livelihood while West Burdwan’s industrial belt doesn’t have much to offer. Communal forces are trying to exploit the situation by using religion as a tool to polarize voters. We marched through these distress zones as these people cannot get ‘insaaf’ (justice) without a political battle. The communal and corrupt have to be fought on the ground. Insaaf Yatra has only triggered the battle,” Dasgupta said.

DYFI's state secretary Minakshi is also conscious of the importance of connecting with the people to effect an electoral reversal.

"Let the people come forward to stop the loot (in the state). We will remain vigilant on the streets," she said on the last day of the march.

Recently, speaking to The Telegraph CPM state secretary Md Salim counted Insaaf Yatra and people’s “overwhelming response” to it as a way forward for the Left in the state. But the circumspect within the party feel it would be too early to say that Insaaf Yatra would trigger a change in the Left’s electoral outcome in the near future.

“The positive outcome is that the younger generation has embarked on the task of reconnecting with the people, an attribute that the party seemed to have forgotten over the years it was in power. But to anticipate an outcome as early as 2024 will be wishful thinking. Even after we lost power, we did organize massive turnout at Brigade Parade ground, but that did not reflect electorally,” the senior CPM leader said.

The ruling Trinamul seems to be on the same page as the CPM veteran while assessing the Insaaf Yatra.

"They (CPM) failed to connect people properly during their 34-year tenure. What will they do now with their so-called Insaaf Yatra?" said Tapas Roy, a Trinamul leader and the party's spokesperson.

Taking part in the march on Friday, CPM veteran Sujan Chakrabarty echoed the harsh reality: “Insaaf Yatra ends today but at the same time it doesn’t end too. This march will continue.”

CPM’s march has just begun, but given Bengal's political reality it could be a long one.