cpm and the left in bengalaccording to an internal party report the cpm does not have organisation to arrange for polling agents in at least 30 per cent of the 77000 polling stations of the statebeing in power for three long decades probably led to decay in our organisation had we lost once and returned to power during this period the situation could have been better mollah saidmajor party programmes of the left front like its brigade parade ground rally last month still attract a large number of workers and supporters but that success could not be translated into votesas the cpim with its depleted strength fights to retain its ground it also helplessly watches tmc supremo mamata banerjee taking over its earlier role of uniting the opposition forces against the bjpthe slide of the cpim in bengal is quite astonishing given the fact of its long history of mass movements during the 60s and 70sover the years since independence the left witnessed a steady growth in the statethe undivided communist party the cpi became the main opposition party in the state after the 1952 general and assembly polls with jyoti basu becoming leader of oppositionin 1964 after the split in the party over ideological issues and formation of the cpm the latter outsmarted the cpi to establish itself as the prime left force in west bengalduring the tumultuous days of naxalite movement the cpm along with the bangla congress a splinter group of the congress formed two short lived governments in the state in 1967 and 1969the party under the leadership of basu and promode dasgupta had become an alternative to the congress in bengalafter the cpmled left front came to power in 1977 its key programmes operation barga giving land to landless farmers which benefited lakhs including muslims and setting up of threetier pancahayat system cemented its support base among the minorities and the rural bengalthese two vote banks turned to be blank cheques for the left for next three decades to win one election after another in the statein the 1980 general elections the left front won 38 seats in the state its highest tally in west bengal and since then its vote percentage hovered around 50 per cent in the subsequent pollsthe left front in 1996 and 2004 with its bloc of 33 and 34 mps respectively played a deciding factor in the government formationbut things started falling apart for the left front after the sachar committee report in 2008 painted a dismal picture on the condition of minorities in the statethe antiland acquisition movement in nandigram and singur led by tmc supremo mamata banerjee further eroded its vote bank in rural bengalin 2009 lok sabha polls the left suffered a set back for the first time as its tally dropped to 15 in the state with the fall of the left front government in 2011 it came down to an all time low of just two seats in 2014 when it