For years, the Left struggled to remain politically relevant in West Bengal as the state's contest became increasingly bipolar, with the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the BJP dominating the landscape. But the political fallout from the alleged rape and murder of a minor girl in Baruipur on 5 July appears to have unexpectedly thrust the CPI(M) back into the centre of the state's political discourse.

Rather than restricting its attacks to the TMC — the state's main opposition party on paper — over the crime, the BJP has increasingly turned its guns on the Left, accusing its leaders of fomenting unrest, filing criminal complaints against senior CPI(M) figures and engaging in an escalating war of words. The result has been an unlikely revival of the Left's visibility, with the party once again emerging as a principal participant in Bengal's political battles.

The confrontation intensified after state panchayat and rural development minister Dilip Ghosh on Thursday, 9 July launched a scathing attack on Left leaders and what he described as "intellectuals", accusing them of encouraging an atmosphere in which crime flourished while simultaneously opposing strict action against........

© National Herald