NEW DELHI, Dec. 12 -- There was a time when the average Bengali in West Bengal considered the Communist Party of India (Marxist) as a Bengali party. Nothing mattered to them more than the leadership of Jyoti Basu, the quintessential Bhadralok they looked up to. Many of them did not even know what Marxism was and what the dictatorship of the proletariat, the ultimate objective of Communism, meant. It was sub-nationalism at its best.

This explains why the Left Front led by the CPI(M) was able to rule the state for seven consecutive terms from 1977 to 2011, five with Jyoti Basu as Chief Minister and two under Buddhadev Bhattacharya. Then came Ms Mamata Banerjee, a former Congress leader, who sent the Marxists packing. Nobody expects the Ma...