Support base of the Communists eroding in Telangana

The political landscape is still dotted with hundreds of martyrs’ columns put up in memory of leaders who had sacrificed their lives during the Telangana armed struggle and the mass movements they spearheaded thereafter.

Hyderabad: The support base of the left parties appears to be eroding fast in Telangana State. Their influence seems to be on the wane even in the pockets that were seen as their strongholds. They are today deprived of representation in the legislative bodies – the state legislative assembly and the legislative council.

Both the CPI and CPI (M) aimed big for red revival in Telangana after it attained statehood. But they continued to lose ground during the last two elections. Uncertainty looms large over their electoral fortunes even in the ensuing elections. They are making last last-ditch attempt even to retain at least their firm foothold by aligning with the political parties seeking their support.

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The erstwhile Khammam and Nalgonda, considered to be the hotbed of communists, are no longer the same. The political landscape is still dotted with hundreds of martyrs’ columns put up in memory of leaders who had sacrificed their lives during the Telangana armed struggle and the mass movements they spearheaded thereafter. But the present leadership of the communists ceased to evoke the same response.

The organizational network of the communists even in their strongholds that were hitherto considered as the hotbed of the revolutionaries is also not the same. They have lost their command on the masses. The CPI and CPI(M) have more or less lost their art of mass mobilization ever since the BRS took the centre stage of administration addressing every issue in earnest.

The left parties have been associated for a long with the fight for issues such as drinking water, uninterrupted power, hikes in wages and house sites for the shelterless. They are all finding themselves issueless. They too stopped taking to the streets as part of their protests intended to mount pressure on the government.

The BRS leadership has been playing a proactive role in fulfilling all such community needs well before the left parties could reach out to Dharna Chowks. The communists were hopeful of sailing with the BRS in the run-up for polls. However the BRS leadership, which preferred to re-nominate the sitting MLAs in almost all the segments barring a few, could not accommodate the left.

The left parties have lost the elections in a big way in 2018. The CPI (M) contested as many as 26 seats in the state and it drew a blank. Altogether it polled 91,099 votes in the 26 assembly constituencies accounting for only 0.44 per cent of the total vote. The CPI which had a better assessment of its strengths and inadequacies, contested three seats and polled only 83,215 votes accounting for 0.40 per cent.

The CPI (ML) New Democracy, which continued to hold its sway over the Yellandu (ST) assembly constituency since 1983, also lost the seat in 2018.

The CPI and CPI(M) could pull a solitary win each in the state in the 2014 elections. While the CPI(M) won the Bhadrachalam (ST) seat, the CPI garnered Devarkonda in the Nalgonda district. Despite their shortcomings, the left parties are still in command of a sizeable chunk of the electorate in the two districts. Their big challenge for regaining their glory is the changing aspirations of the voter.

Being restricted to the opposition benches for over a generation, they proved to be low in their delivery. The parties find it hard to fill the big vacuum left by towering leaders and revolutionaries of the likes of Comrade Bhimireddy Narsimha Reddy and Rajab Ali who made an indelible impact on the political landscape.