Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09KOLKATA257
2009-09-18 08:59:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Consulate Kolkata
Cable title:
LEFT'S ROUT IN NORTH BENGAL - ONE MORE NAIL IN ITS WEST
how-toVZCZCXRO8821 RR RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHDBU RUEHLH RUEHNEH RUEHPW DE RUEHCI #0257 2610859 ZNR UUUUU ZZH R 180859Z SEP 09 FM AMCONSUL KOLKATA TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2466 INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA 3055
UNCLAS KOLKATA 000257
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR SCA/INSB (ASHWORTH)
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL IN
SUBJECT: LEFT'S ROUT IN NORTH BENGAL - ONE MORE NAIL IN ITS WEST
BENGAL COFFIN?
UNCLAS KOLKATA 000257
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR SCA/INSB (ASHWORTH)
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL IN
SUBJECT: LEFT'S ROUT IN NORTH BENGAL - ONE MORE NAIL IN ITS WEST
BENGAL COFFIN?
1. (SBU) The shaken Left Front in West Bengal was dealt another
setback in the September 13 Siliguri municipal elections. The
All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) and Congress Party alliance
won 30 of the 47 wards (it previously represented 9) to break
the Communist Party of India - Marxist (CPI-M)'s 30 year-old
stranglehold on the northern municipality.
2. (SBU) Since the CPI-M's May 2009 disastrous performance in
the national elections, the AITC has won every election in West
Bengal that it has contested - be it the August state assembly
bypolls or the recent Siliguri municipal elections. The leader
of the opposition in the state assembly confidently told PolOFF
that the trend would continue through the Kolkata Municipal
Elections in 2010 and the West Bengal state assembly elections
in 2011. Remarking on the Siliguri defeat, the leader of the
Left Front publicly opined that while Siliguri voters may have
voted for "change over development", the election results from
this municipality of a quarter million inhabitants are neither
representative nor predictive for the state as a whole.
Unfortunately for the CPI-M led Left Front, most political
analysts think they are and that the 33-year uninterrupted CPI-M
rule of West Bengal is drawing to a close.
Comment
3. (SBU) While political winds in India can shift swiftly, at
this point post concurs with the prevailing political consensus
that communist rule in West Bengal is approaching its end.
However, it is too early to say whether the ouster of the
communists from power will be permanent or merely a temporary
blip. Much will depend on what the AITC and Congress combine
can deliver once in power in West Bengal and whether they can
remain united over time.
PAYNE
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR SCA/INSB (ASHWORTH)
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL IN
SUBJECT: LEFT'S ROUT IN NORTH BENGAL - ONE MORE NAIL IN ITS WEST
BENGAL COFFIN?
1. (SBU) The shaken Left Front in West Bengal was dealt another
setback in the September 13 Siliguri municipal elections. The
All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) and Congress Party alliance
won 30 of the 47 wards (it previously represented 9) to break
the Communist Party of India - Marxist (CPI-M)'s 30 year-old
stranglehold on the northern municipality.
2. (SBU) Since the CPI-M's May 2009 disastrous performance in
the national elections, the AITC has won every election in West
Bengal that it has contested - be it the August state assembly
bypolls or the recent Siliguri municipal elections. The leader
of the opposition in the state assembly confidently told PolOFF
that the trend would continue through the Kolkata Municipal
Elections in 2010 and the West Bengal state assembly elections
in 2011. Remarking on the Siliguri defeat, the leader of the
Left Front publicly opined that while Siliguri voters may have
voted for "change over development", the election results from
this municipality of a quarter million inhabitants are neither
representative nor predictive for the state as a whole.
Unfortunately for the CPI-M led Left Front, most political
analysts think they are and that the 33-year uninterrupted CPI-M
rule of West Bengal is drawing to a close.
Comment
3. (SBU) While political winds in India can shift swiftly, at
this point post concurs with the prevailing political consensus
that communist rule in West Bengal is approaching its end.
However, it is too early to say whether the ouster of the
communists from power will be permanent or merely a temporary
blip. Much will depend on what the AITC and Congress combine
can deliver once in power in West Bengal and whether they can
remain united over time.
PAYNE