ABSTRACT

The second chapter introduces the reader to the political history of West Bengal and Left Front regime. It begins by presenting a brief account of the emergence and trajectory of Left politics in colonial Bengal and subsequently in West Bengal, describing the growth of the Communist Party of India (CPI) and its rise to electoral prominence, the split in the party leading to the formation of the CPIM, the two subsequent united front governments, the 1970s decade of chaos and the eventual formation of the Left Front government in 1977. It then proceeds to critically review the two dominant theoretical narratives about the regime: first, the institutional framework, focusing on the early years of the Left Front and its flagship programmes (land reforms and democratic decentralisation); and second, a more critical discourse in the form of the party-society thesis, emphasising on a culture of political mediation embedded in the operational character of the CPIM as the main feature of the regime. The chapter concludes by introducing a third theoretical concept – the shadow state – as a unique perspective to analyse the subsequent affairs in the state, a perspective to be explored further in Chapter 6.