TMC, BJP should be treated on par as enemies of the Left : LF chairman

Left Front Chairman Biman Bose Monday said both TMC and BJP should be treated on par as enemies by Marxists in West Bengal and blamed the Mamata Banerjee-led party for being responsible for bringing the saffron party to West Bengal. This comes on the heels of CPI(ML-Liberation) leader Dipankar Bhattacharya's call to identify BJP as "enemy number one" by Left parties in the state. Bose said while the saffron party is openly professing communalism, TMC is indulging in competitive communalism.

"Our leader Jyoti Basu used to say repeatedly that TMC's biggest crime is it brought BJP to West Bengal holding its hands. We cannot forget that," he told reporters.

"While BJP is openly professing the communal brand of politics, TMC, which is in power in the state, is indulging in competitive brand of communalism," Bose said.

Claiming there is an understanding between the two parties, he said "it was proved on many occasions." Bose, who was interacting with the press after a meeting of Left Front constituents, was asked to comment on Bhattacharya's statement that the TMC and the saffron party should not be clubbed in the same bracket and the Left and Congress should first deal with the "bigger threat" that is BJP in West Bengal.

He had said that CPI(M) lacks the "anti-BJP thrust" needed to counter the "divisive force" in West Bengal and that countering the saffron surge is currently the biggest challenge in the country. He had called upon all democratic and secular forces to treat BJP as the "principal political enemy" during the state poll due in April-May next year. 

(Image Credits: PTI)