The first floor of a white, two-storey building in Sikar is buzzing with activity and enthusiasm. A group of men and women sit in a room, on whose walls hang photos of Vladimir Lenin and Karl Marx. It is the district headquarters of Communist Party of India (Marxist), and the party’s local leaders are busy discussing the crises faced by farmers, students and labourers in Rajasthan.CPI(M) is serious in its efforts to ensure victory for its 17 candidates in the upcoming assembly polls in the state, they said.
Everyone stands up when ‘Comrade Amra Ramji‘ arrives. A four-term former MLA of CPI(M) in Sikar district, Amra Ram has returned after daylong campaigns in his constituency, Danta Ramgarh. He sat in a chair in his 10ft-by-10ft room, whose walls bear quotes from Che Guevara along with the pictures of Marx and Lenin, and spoke to TOI.
On being asked if the Leftist ideology is hard to propagate among the common people in the largely bipolar elections, Ram smiled. “Farmers and labourers understand what the Left stands for as they are at the receiving end of successive governments. Our fight is to get them their right to land, appropriate wages, and the right price for their produce,” said Ram, who was elected MLA from Dhod thrice (1993, 1998 and 2003). He won in Danta Ramgarh in 2008 but lost in the 2018 polls.
CPI(M)’s students’ wing, SFI, won the student union polls at the region’s biggest government college in Sikar every year since 1971, barring about three polls, said Ram. “The bigger parties got scared and divided the college into three, which impacted the Left,” he added.
In the 2018 assembly polls in Rajasthan, CPI(M) won two seats-Dungargarh (Bikaner) and Bhadra (Hanumangarh)-and stood second in two others. The Left’s best performance in the state was in 1962, when Communist Party of India (CPI) won five seats.
Ram disagreed that the Left remains limited to the farming belts of Shekhawati, Bikaner, Hanumangarh and Sriganganagar. “The Left ideology and leadership have expanded across Rajasthan, but electoral success has not been high because we lack funds and compete against the cash-rich Congress and BJP,” said Ram.
CPI(M) had one and zero MLAs in Rajasthan in 2003 and 2013 respectively, when BJP won the state polls. In the 2008 and 2018 polls, which saw Congress winning and forming the government in the state, CPI(M) won three and two seats respectively. Ram said CPI(M)’s electoral success had no links to Congress’s fortunes in the state.
“This time, my party will create a new record by sending the highest number of its MLAs to Rajasthan assembly,” said Ram with confidence.
Everyone stands up when ‘Comrade Amra Ramji‘ arrives. A four-term former MLA of CPI(M) in Sikar district, Amra Ram has returned after daylong campaigns in his constituency, Danta Ramgarh. He sat in a chair in his 10ft-by-10ft room, whose walls bear quotes from Che Guevara along with the pictures of Marx and Lenin, and spoke to TOI.
On being asked if the Leftist ideology is hard to propagate among the common people in the largely bipolar elections, Ram smiled. “Farmers and labourers understand what the Left stands for as they are at the receiving end of successive governments. Our fight is to get them their right to land, appropriate wages, and the right price for their produce,” said Ram, who was elected MLA from Dhod thrice (1993, 1998 and 2003). He won in Danta Ramgarh in 2008 but lost in the 2018 polls.
CPI(M)’s students’ wing, SFI, won the student union polls at the region’s biggest government college in Sikar every year since 1971, barring about three polls, said Ram. “The bigger parties got scared and divided the college into three, which impacted the Left,” he added.
In the 2018 assembly polls in Rajasthan, CPI(M) won two seats-Dungargarh (Bikaner) and Bhadra (Hanumangarh)-and stood second in two others. The Left’s best performance in the state was in 1962, when Communist Party of India (CPI) won five seats.
Ram disagreed that the Left remains limited to the farming belts of Shekhawati, Bikaner, Hanumangarh and Sriganganagar. “The Left ideology and leadership have expanded across Rajasthan, but electoral success has not been high because we lack funds and compete against the cash-rich Congress and BJP,” said Ram.
CPI(M) had one and zero MLAs in Rajasthan in 2003 and 2013 respectively, when BJP won the state polls. In the 2008 and 2018 polls, which saw Congress winning and forming the government in the state, CPI(M) won three and two seats respectively. Ram said CPI(M)’s electoral success had no links to Congress’s fortunes in the state.
“This time, my party will create a new record by sending the highest number of its MLAs to Rajasthan assembly,” said Ram with confidence.
