Comrade,
It is a moment of crisis for India under the present fascist regime led by R.S.S.-B.J.P. The TMC government of West Bengal, in spite of a verbal and rather superficial stance against the central government, is in fact aligning itself with the fascist regime with the aggressive autocratic rule, monumental corruption and politicisation of religious sentiment. At present, our state is basically oscillating between the poles of right and ultra-right politics. The common people, sandwiched between the fascist RSS-BJP and autocratic TMC, are struggling to breathe.
We have seen a rapid rise of fascist aggression throughout the country since Narendra Modi came to power in the centre following the election in 2014. This central government, a faithful agent of the imperialist USA and a trusted friend of the zioinist regime of Israel, unleashed all-out attack on the working class including peasants and labourers, with the motive of offering the whole country to the voracious greed of corporate capital. Any voice of protest was ruthlessly strangled and muted, the politics of hatred was used to increase communal polarisation throughout the country, people were kept in a state of perpetual anxiety and stress by CAA, NRC and the latest SIR. Our state is not an exception. In fact, a totally corrupt, right-wing party like TMC is the principal opponent of RSS-BJP in the domain of parliamentary politics in West Bengal. It is the undemocratic, autocratic rule of TMC which paved the way for BJP to gain a foothold in West Bengal.
A historic moment came in 2024 in the form of the `Abhaya Movement’. People who were suffocated by BJP and TMC from two sides spontaneously came out and flooded the streets day after day, month after month, to voice their loss of confidence in the current TMC government and protest against it. The concept of `women’s liberation’ and `gender equality’, which is a fundamentally anti-fascist element, was at the core of this movement. This made BJP most un-welcome to join this movement in spite of being the largest party in the opposition in the state assembly. Thousands of people who participated in this unprecedented, spontaneous mass movement maintained a distance from TMC and BJP. Abhaya Movement, along with several other movements before and after it, among workers, peasants, dalits, tribal and ethnic groups, teachers and non-teaching staff, health workers, women and trans-queer, at least prove beyond doubt that there is a continuity of progressive and democratic elements in the social fabric of West Bengal, even if in a somewhat less organized form.
Indeed, this is a characteristic feature of Bengal and a direct and indirect outcome of the legacy of strong leftist and democratic movements of the past.
Our main challenge at this moment is to organize the progressive and democratic forces in the society into a definite direction. This is too formidable to be done single-handed, but we believe that a joint initiative by all leftist mass-organizations in the state and countless progressive and pro-democracy individuals
can polarize the forces of mass-movement and offer a strong alternative against the the fascist and autocratic powers. It is perhaps unnecessary to mention that the organizations like RSS and BJP which are guided by the ideology of fascism are much more dangerous than other right-wing parties of our country like Indian National Congress or TMC. At the same time we also believe that the autocratic rule of TMC played a decisive role in helping BJP gain a solid ground in West Bengal. It is a fact that in rural areas many chose BJP as an alternative only to save themselves from the tyranny and hooliganism of TMC leaders. However, Mamata Banerjee had already set the stage for the activities of Sangh Parivar in Bengal through her flawed theory that `RSS is good but BJP is bad’. The TMC government built the `Jagannath temple’ as an answer to BJP’s `Ram temple’, took up the celebration of `Hanuman Jayanti’ as an antidote of `Ram Navami’. Both the central and state governments are spending huge amount of money to appease and nurture religious fundamentalism and thus confine much of politics within the religious compartment, defying and undermining the principle of secularism proclaimed in our constitution. Of course, this indirectly strengthens the agenda of RSS. For this reason, one must also take a clear and definite stand against the autocratic rule of TMC to effectively resist the fascist aggression of BJP-RSS in Bengal. If we can organize all the anti-rightist, democratic-progressive forces of Bengal and polarize them against the right and ultra-right forces,
it will further strengthen the democratic sphere of the society in future and help the class-struggle to gain momentum. These anti-rightist, democratic and progressive forces must build their own socio-political identity and opinion through continuous struggle and movements of the working class and maintain a clear distance from the neo-liberal weltanshauung and implementation of neo-liberal agenda. No doubt, this is a long and assiduous task.
We have the following concrete and definite proposals:
(1) Let us form a common forum (`Mancha’) with all the consenting political organizations and individuals.
(2) This forum must have an anti-right wing, democratic, progressive and secular character.
(3) The political character of this forum will be against fascism and autocracy.
(4) This forum will oppose neo-liberal economic policy and any form of its implementation.
(5) The forum will work on the basis of unanimous opinion on any political issue including election.
(6) The proposed forum should be seen as an independent and distinct organization, which will build its own political identity in West Bengal in future.
(7) This forum will fight for people’s right to life and livelihood, cultural issues, gender equality, environmental issues and any other democratic rights. It will try to unite the working class.
February 24 marks only the beginning of a long path ahead for the proposed forum. We believe that we must adopt an intensive and patient process to build and sustain such a long-term forum, discuss and exchange thoughts openly on a wide range of issues, so that we can collectively reach a clear `common minimum’ mutual understanding. We do hope that the forum will gradually grow stronger and build its own identity in future, as all of us walk on a common path and above all, actively participate in many mass-movements.
With revolutionary greetings,
Convenors
24.2.2026
