The Congress’s Rahul Gandhi had called up Meera Bhattacharjee on Thursday night, shortly after sending her a letter condoling the death of Bengal’s Marxist poster-boy Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee at 80, hailing the former chief minister’s vision and its lasting impact on the state.
In his letter, Rahul wrote about his deep sadness at the demise of the communist veteran.
“India has lost a person whose ambitious vision shaped West Bengal in profound ways,” it read.
The Nehru-Gandhi family scion, currently spearheading the INDIA bloc that has been breathing down the neck of the substantially weakened Narendra Modi regime since the general election results, lauded Bhattacharjee’s “tremendous contribution” to the CPM, which he said would be remembered.
Rahul, who telephoned the wife of the deceased leader on Thursday night, went on in his letter to commend the former Jadavpur MLA for not being confined by dogmatism.
“Not one to be tied down by ideological orthodoxy, he broke free from the past and worked towards transforming West Bengal. While he faced many challenges, his integrity and conviction helped usher in a new era of development,” wrote the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, who had famously conducted a joint rally with Bhattacharjee at the Park Circus Maidan here on April 27, 2016, to announce the arrival of the electoral understanding between their parties ahead of the Assembly elections that summer.
Although it was then presumed widely, even by the political cognoscenti, that the truck would yield a rich electoral harvest for both in Bengal — one that might even ensure the defeat of Mamata Banerjee — it failed to impress the voters. Subsequently, every time the Congress and the CPM in Bengal tried contesting elections as partners against Mamata (including the general election this summer), they effectively ended up aiding the BJP win more seats here.
Even now, tensions remain in the INDIA space, over Rahul’s proximity to CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury and others in the Left, which displeases the Trinamool Congress chairperson. More so since she added 29 Lok Sabha seats to the INDIA tally, after fighting against the Congress-Left combine besides the BJP here, which makes Trinamool the third-largest constituent of the anti-BJP bloc.
“He was unwaveringly dedicated to public service for over five decades. His contributions to the state and nation will always be remembered,” Rahul had said on Thursday, hours before issuing the letter.
In the letter, he also complimented Bhattacharjee’s intellectual abilities.
“At a personal level, his intellectual prowess and kindness will be missed deeply by friends and opponents alike,” he wrote.
“I can imagine your anguish and sorrow at losing him…. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family at this difficult time,” added the Congress leader.
Rahul met Adhir, “encouraged” him
The Congress’s former state unit chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who had publicly expressed his displeasure over the high command’s treatment of him, was asked to visit Delhi by Rahul, and the two met at length on Thursday. Chowdhury said on Friday that in a “fruitful, positive” discussion, Rahul encouraged him to work more extensively across Bengal and address the needs of their party.
Chowdhury, whose militant resistance to any truck with Mamata — and the engineering of one with the Left — was instrumental in her decision to go it alone in the state. Since Chowdhury’s Baharampur defeat and electoral debacles for the Congress and the Left here, questions have been raised on his political future.
An analysis of the poll data suggests that a united fight by the INDIA bloc in Bengal would have cost the BJP at least six Lok Sabha seats out of the 12 it won here.
“Victory or defeat is an inevitable outcome of every fight. One mustn’t let it dishearten them,” Chowdhury quoted Rahul as having said in their meeting.
The development triggered further speculation on the Congress’s likely road ahead in Bengal, where it is yet to pick a successor for Chowdhury.
