From Tumpa song to flash mobs, Left goes for a revamp in West Bengal

"Tumpa Sona", which takes potshots at Trinamool Congress and BJP, has gone viral since its launch last week, drawing flak and praise in equal measure

Comebacks in politics are not uncommon.

Winston Churchill’s Conservative Party lost the UK election in 1945 in a landslide, but came back with a narrow victory in 1951. Closer home, Indira Gandhi was virtually written off, after the Janata alliance crushed the Congress in 1977 due to excesses during the Emergency, but swept back to power in less than three years. In recent times, the resurrection of Mamata Banerjee’s political career in 2011 is the most successful comeback that Bengal has seen.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Front, too, is working on a comeback script in the state. But the question is, can it do a Mamata?

The party is currently consumed by the upcoming mega rally on February 28 at the iconic Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata, which will see participation from the Congress and the Indian Secular Front (ISF) led by Furfura Sharif cleric Abbas Siddiqui (the two parties have reached an understanding with the Left for the 2021 election).

“Associates of the Left and Congress will join the rally; this will be the broadest morcha,” said senior CPI(M) leader, Mohammed Salim.

Preparation for the day have been in full swing since January; a 1,000 rallies have been organized across Bengal – at the district level going down to assembly constituencies –to mobilise people for the rally, “Brigade Chalo” masks are in circulation, and of course, there are the wall graffiti, a forte of the Left.

Video grabs of the CPI(M)’s theme song, “Tumpa Sona”, a parody that has gone viral since its launch last week

But these are passé; what is grabbing eyeballs is a parody of the popular song “Tumpa Sona”.  “Tumpa Sona” – which takes potshots at the Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) –has gone viral since its launch last week, drawing flak and praise in equal measure.

“This is a desperate attempt by the CPI(M) to reconnect with the younger generation,” said political commentator, Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhury.

For the traditional Left supporters, the song goes against the grain of a party that led cultural movements like people’s theatre. Senior CPI(M) leader, Mohammed Salim, however, contends that the song is a satire. “It’s a parody and parody is a part of our culture,” he added.

Video grabs of the CPI(M)’s theme song, “Tumpa Sona”, a parody that has gone viral since its launch last week

Like it or not, with its catchy tune and colloquial lyrics, the Tumpa song is hard to ignore.

The “Tumpa Sona Brigade Chalo” is a campaign targeted at the rural and semi-urban; to appeal to the urban audience, “Brigade Chalo” flash mobs were organised. For a party that faded into near-oblivion, the Left campaigns are getting a look and being talked about.

Since the debacle in 2011 that brought the curtains down on a 34-year Left rule in Bengal, it touched new lows in each subsequent election. Yet, there seems to be a renewed attempt at making itself count in this election.

“The Brigade rally will see a historic turnout. People are rediscovering us; wherever we are going in the villages, people are asking, where were you,” said senior CPI(M) leader, Manabendra Mukherjee.

“A rejuvenated Left stands to rejuvenate Bengal,” added Salim.

A revamped and refurbished Left is how it’s projecting itself. The party has been working at its image for a while now.

After the widespread destruction caused by cyclone Amphan in May, the Left leaders were seen reaching out to people. But even before that it has been re-opening its party offices across Bengal.

Many party offices were shut between 2011 and 2013; some started reopening before the 2016 assembly elections. “Now, except a handful that were burnt down and destroyed, most of our party offices have reopened,” said Salim.

In places like Nandigram – the seat of the land agitation movement that overthrew the Left – red hammer-and-sickle flags have resurfaced. That means rebuilding the organisation at the local level.

In a highly polarised election, what role could the Left possibly play? “We are the future of Bengal politics,” said Mukherjee.

Basu Ray Chaudhury, believed that the party would probably fare better than in the previous election.

“For one, this is not an assembly election. In 2019, it was the BJP, which ate into the vote share of the Left. If they do better now, then the BJP would lose vote share,” he said.

But that doesn’t mean that the BJP’s vote share would come down; it is widely expected that TMC’s loss would be the saffron party’s gain. The other theory is that the Left-Congress alliance would reduce the anti-BJP vote share and the TMC would be at the receiving end of it.

Any which way, the alliance has the potential of queering the pitch for either the TMC or the BJP.

On prospects of the Left, a former bureaucrat, however, said, “The party is just about coming to life.”