Srijan Bhattacharya, the CPI(M)’s 31-year-old candidate in Jadavpur Lok Sabha constituency, is all fired up. “This will be the new left,” he says. “We will talk in today’s lingo, but we will not dilute our politics. The content remains the same, but the form is changing for good.”
Bollywood punchlines have been helping Bhattacharya connect with crowds at poll rallies. At a rally organised by the CPI(M)’s youth wing at Kolkata’s Brigade Parade Ground, he borrowed a line from Shah Rukh Khan’s Jawan. “Baap ko hath lagaane se pehle bete se bat kar (Talk to the son before touching the father),” he said, eliciting a thunderous response from the audience.
Bhattacharya is one of the eight candidates who are aged below 40 that the CPI(M) has fielded in West Bengal. Of the 30 candidates that the Left Front has fielded as INDIA bloc candidates in the state, 22 are from the CPI(M). Only four of them are above 60.
This appears to be a decisive shift from the party’s long tradition of favouring old hands in electoral politics. Perhaps, what held a mirror up to the party were the results of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and the 2021 assembly polls. On both occasions, the party had drawn a blank.
The CPI(M) had fielded a few young candidates in 2021, but none of them made a big impact. But, three years since, the young leaders have the ability and experience to make voters take notice of the left’s poll agenda.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة May 19, 2024 من THE WEEK India.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة May 19, 2024 من THE WEEK India.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
What Will It Take To Clean Up Delhi Air?
IT IS ASKED, year after year, why Delhi’s air remains unbreathable despite several interventions to reduce pollution.
Trump and the crisis of liberalism
Although Donald Trump's election to a non-consecutive second term to the US presidency is not unprecedented—Grover Cleveland had done it in 1893—it is nevertheless a watershed moment.
Men eye the woman's purse
A couple of months ago, I chanced upon a young 20-something man at my gym walking out with a women’s sling bag.
When trees hold hands
A filmmaker explores the human-nature connect through the living root bridges
Ms Gee & Gen Z
The vibrant Anuja Chauhan and her daughter Nayantara on the generational gap in romance writing
Vikram Seth-a suitable man
Our golden boy of literature was the star attraction at the recent Shillong Literary Festival in mysterious Meghalaya.
Superman bites the dust
When my granddaughter Kim was about three, I often took her to play in a nearby park.
OLD MAN AND THE SEA
Meet G. Govinda Menon, the 102-year-old engineer who had a key role in surveying the Vizhinjam coast in the 1940s, assessing its potential for an international port
Managing volatility: smarter equity choices in uncertain markets
THE INDIAN STOCK MARKET has delivered a strong 11 per cent CAGR over the past decade, with positive returns for eight straight years.
Investing in actively managed low-volatility portfolios keeps risks at bay
AFTER A ROARING bull market over the past year, equity markets in the recent months have gone into a correction mode as FIIs go on a selling spree. Volatility has risen and investment returns are hurt.
